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Motorola's Downward Slide Steepens

Moto is teetering on the edge of the abyss. Last week saw two top-level executives depart the ailing maker of mobile phones, one of them the former head of the mobile phone division. And if its sales figures keep up their current pace, it will close out 2008 down three spots to the world's fifth largest supplier of mobile phones.

According to a report in Fortune, Motorola's yearly sales declined 27% between 2006 and 2007. If it maintains that pace of decline in 2008, LG and Sony Ericsson will pass it sometime during 2008, leaving Motorola the lonely fifth spot on the podium. That speaks volumes about the phone giant's success in the market of late.

Given what we've seen from Motorola so far in 2008, I am inclined to believe that it's only going to get worse. Let's take a look at how the first few months has shaped up for Moto.

January -- CES, the biggest tech show in the United States Motorola rolls out the Rokr E8. Definitely a solid phone. It has the best use of haptics feedback technology I've ever encountered. It's a little long in the tooth, but it should be a decent seller for Motorola. It's been downhill since then.

Later in January, CEO Greg Brown assumes personal responsibility for the handset division, ousting Stu Reed. Not much later, Motorola announces that the handset division is for sale. After about 7 weeks on the block, no prospective bidders have emerged. In fact, more than one firm has said "no thanks" to the idea of buying Motorola's handset division. If that doesn't tell a sorry tale, I don't know what does.

February -- Motorola has a big chance to right the ship at one of the world's largest mobile confabs. It even circulates underground marketing materials via YouTube that suggest a cool announcement is on the way. The entire week comes and goes with no real new phones. Instead, it refurbed a couple of entry-level handsets for emerging markets. Yikes. This was a distinct difference from its competitors. Nokia, Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson all used Mobile World Congress to launch flagship-level phones that will be hits once they appear market.

With no high-end products to compete with these handsets, Motorola will only fall further behind.

March -- Then Brown announces that he's looking for outside help to turn the handset business around. Um. Wait, I thought he was taking control and personal responsibility. I guess it was too much for him. It was barely a few days later that Motorola's chief marketing officer, Kenneth Keller Jr., and former head of mobile devices, Stu Reed, fled the company.

Not good signs. Not good at all.

Three weeks from now, CTIA kicks off in Las Vegas. Will the phantom announcement reappear? Will Motorola make a stronger showing, or slip deeper into the abyss?

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