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Motorola set to win market share, beat Nokia-CEO

TEL AVIV: Motorola Chief Executive Ed Zander said on Thursday he was confident that new mobile phone models would help him gain market share as he revamped his firm’s desire to dethrone industry leader Nokia.

“I try to take market share from anyone, anywhere. Taking market share, you always look at everyone around you and we’re looking at the front runner,” Zander told Reuters on the sidelines of the Israel Export Institute conference.

Zander’s confidence was built on some of the hottest phones Motorola has launched in many years, such as the recently introduced Razr V3 ultra-slim flip phone. “We have the best product and line-up in many years. We’re poised to take market share in many areas,” he added.

Zander’s ambitious comments come at a crucial moment for the world’s second biggest handset maker, which has lost market share so far this year. Analysts have been speculating that Samsung Electronics from South Korea will soon take over the No. 2 spot from the United States-based company.

Motorola’s third-quarter market share slipped to 13.9 percent from 15 percent a year earlier, with Samsung climbing to 13.5 percent from 11.2 percent, Strategy Analytics said. The global mobile phone market is worth roughly $100 billion a year.

But Zander said that new models will provide the “oomph” Motorola needs to accelerate sales growth again.

“We’re excited about our position. Motorola is cool again,” Zander said, adding he was confident Motorola could churn out enough products to meet demand. Bottlenecks in the production of popular models put a damper on Motorola’s sales in the past, and Zander — who joined from Sun Microsystems almost a year ago — has been busy improving operations and execution. “We will meet our targets,” Zander said.

New models: His company’s newly appointed president, Ron Garriques, told investors in a conference call yesterday that he expected “very strong” holiday sales, fueled by the new models.

Motorola has launched 10 new models this quarter and plans another 10 introductions later this year. The new Razr handset is being shipped in Asia and Europe and mobile carrier Cingular Wireless, newly merged with AT&T Wireless, will introduce the phone in the United States. —Reuters

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