PLAINFIELD, Ind.—Brightpoint Inc. will supply Motorola Inc.’s handsets and accessories to some of its customers in the United States, Brightpoint announced. The agreement between the two companies is something of a coup for Brightpoint, as Motorola is the No. 1 handset supplier in the United States and offers several hot-selling handsets such as the Razr and Slvr.
The deal means that Brightpoint now does business with all five of the first-tier phone makers—Nokia Corp., Motorola, LG Electronics Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P.—in the handset business, as well as second-tier players such as Sanyo Corp., Kyocera Wireless Corp., and UTStarcom Inc.
However, the deal didn’t appear to excite investors; Brightpoint shares fell 56 cents to $29.92 per share after the news.
Brightpoint is a handset distributor and provides customized logistical services to a variety of players in the wireless industry, from carriers to mobile virtual network operators and independent retailers. The company handled more than 40 million handsets last year.
Brightpoint also recently launched its own retail effort, dubbed Fono Wireless, which it is licensing to retailers who would then own and operate each outlet. Brightpoint plans to license up to 30 Fono stores by year’s end.
