Analysts: Motorola's phone line up lagged

Chicago -- As mobile phone companies reach for new technology to bolster sales, Motorola's product line up put the company at a disadvantage, analysts said Thursday.

Phone companies "gravitate toward those who can innovate, and those who can innovate with a reliable cadence," Martin Hanlon of the consulting firm Capgemini told the Chicago Tribune.

Motorola, which wants to shed its hand-held cell phone unit, "should have been spending more time working with carriers to design a new type of phone with broad appeal," Mark Tauschek of Info-Tech Research said.

A former leader in hand-held manufacturing, Illinois-based Motorola may have let its relationship with phone carriers slip, the Tribune reported.

Phone companies are adding services, such as Internet capabilities and text messaging to keep revenue flowing while sales of basic phone calls stagnate. AT&T, Verizon and other carriers have design teams to work with makers of handsets.

Losing market share, Motorola announced Feb. 1, that it planed to sell its hand-set cellular telephone division. The company has reduced its workforce from 150,000 in 2000 to 65,000 in 2008.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.