Motorola May Sell Ailing Cell Phone Division

Company says it will spin off foundering mobile unit that's lost $1.2 billion

(NEWSER) - Motorola blinked in its showdown with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, announcing this morning it will spin off the foundering mobile-device division that lost $1.2 billion last year and has seen its share of the mobile phone market shrink from 22% to 12%, reports Bloomberg. Moto’s stock rose 6.6% on the news before the markets opened, after losing 45% in the past year. More»

Slumping cellphone maker learns a lesson about putting all its eggs in one basket

(NEWSER) - Riding high on the success of its sleek Razr cellphone, Motorola got cocky and didn't come up with a suitable successor, the Wall Street Journal reports, and the misstep cost the company big bucks. While Motorola struggled to keep up with emerging technology and wrestled with management upheaval, competitors moved in and the company's stock slumped. More»

Passes Symbian; iPhone at No. 3

(NEWSER) - Google’s Android is now the world’s most popular smartphone platform, having edged past Nokia’s Symbian in the fourth quarter of 2010. Vendors shipped 33.3 million Android-based phones that quarter, beating Symbian’s 31 million, a report out today finds. That’s good news for Android phone vendors LG and Acer, who saw sales volume boosts of 4,127% and 709% from Q4 of 2009—and for Samsung and HTC, who together shipped nearly 45% of all Android phones in the period, reports CNET . More»

And Android users are chaste

(NEWSER) - If you're looking to get laid by a wider range of paramours, maybe you should trade in your Android for an iPhone. A new study shows that female iPhone users have an average of 12 sexual partners by age 30, and male iPhone users 10 partners, compared with six for male and female Android users and about eight for Blackberry users, FastCompany reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Dell is considering a move into the smartphone business, the Wall Street Journal reports. The computer company has had engineers working on models for more than a year and could launch a competitor to the iPhone or Blackberry as early as next month. CEO Michael Dell also could pull the plug on the project, which remains officially under wraps. More»