Fikl Pikl

As a testament to the fickleness of the wireless industry, Motorola Inc., once the bell of the handset ball, has fallen on hard times.
Was it not so long ago that the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company was basking in the glow of its Razr dollars? Who can forget the boasts of 50 million units sold worldwide and the constant stream of accolades raining down on the company for its forward-looking design philosophy. (Answer: it was not that long ago.)
A few short months later and the shine appears to be off the Motorola apple. A couple of weeks ago, the company posted fourth-quarter results that showed that while revenues and units shipped were up, earnings, average selling prices and operating margins were down. Hoping to buffer the news with investors, Motorola said it would cut 3,500 jobs.
(Why are job cuts always seen as a way to make investors happy? You’d think that some of the investors were those very employees impacted by the job cuts. How happy could they be?)
Anyway, back to Moto’s problems. It seems that people still want the Razr, and even more so now that most carriers are selling the device at the magical $50 price point. A quick scan of carrier Web sites last week showed that Cingular was selling its basic Razr for $30 and its UMTS version for $80; Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA had their versions for $50; and Sprint Nextel had its Razrs for $25 and $30. Even regional carriers and MVNOs have Razrs available for less than $100.
Motorola CEO Ed Zander noted that the carrier sold more Razrs during the fourth quarter of 2006 than in any previous quarter. This might have been good news when the Razr was still a $100-plus handset, but now that carriers are using the once high-end handset as their value play, profits are dwindling.
By contrast, the Razr’s anointed successor, the Krzr, has yet to take the shine off its older sibling and carriers are still selling it for between $100 and $200. Moto’s other models, the Slvr and Rizr, have also failed to ignite the passion among consumers that the Razr did and continues to generate. (Truth be told, I think the Razr is pretty cool looking, though I could never own one now that my arch-nemesis Mike Dano is part of the Razr clan.)
Of course, a couple of bad quarters do not a crisis make, but for the sake of Motorola’s investors and its employees, here’s hoping the company can pull another gem out of its pickle barrel.