APPLE

DESCRIPTION
Apple aims for nothing short of a revolution, whether in personal computing or digital media distribution. The company's desktop and laptop computers -- all of which feature its OS X operating system -- include its Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook for the consumer and education markets, and more powerful Mac Pro and MacBook Pro for high-end consumers and professionals involved in design and publishing. Apple scored a runaway hit with its digital music players (iPod) and online music store (iTunes). Other products include mobile phones (iPhone), servers (Xserve), wireless networking equipment (Airport), and publishing and multimedia software. Its FileMaker subsidiary provides database software.RETURN

Motorola

DESCRIPTION
Down but not out, Motorola is still a top choice for mobile phone users worldwide. The company is the #3 manufacturer of wireless telephone handsets (behind industry leaders Nokia and Samsung) and it also designs and sells wireless network infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal amplifiers. Motorola's home and broadcast network products include set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and network equipment used to enable video broadcasting, computer telephony, and high-definition television. Its products for business and government customers consist mainly of wireless voice and broadband data systems used to build private networks and public safety communications systems.

Motorola in 2007 generated just over half of sales through the manufacture and sale of wireless handsets and related products (down from two-thirds in 2006). The company, originator of the clamshell handset, has met with some success in recent years with new models intended to revitalize its beleaguered mobile phone unit. Its RAZR phone model (introduced in 2003) has sold more than any other wireless handset in history, but the subsequent PEBL and SLVR designs have been unable to keep pace. Competitors have been more than happy to take up the slack in terms of market share as Motorola's handset business continues to decline. The company's top customers include Comcast, China Mobile, KDDI, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon which together account for more than 40% of sales.

A leading supplier of cell phones to the burgeoning markets of China and Mexico, the company does nearly half of its business outside the US. Its largest international markets are Brazil, China, Germany, Mexico, and the UK. About one-third of the unit's net sales are through third-party distributors and retailers including Brightstar, its main distributor in Latin America.

In 2007 activist investor Carl Icahn bought up Motorola shares, about 6% in total, in a successful attempt to obtain seats on the company's board of directors. Icahn indicated his intent to decrease Motorola's debt and return cash to investors in an effort to counter weakened sales and profits. He also called for the replacement of CEO Ed Zander and for the breakup of the company into parts.

Early in 2008 Zander was replaced by COO and communications industry veteran Greg Brown; Zander stayed on as chairman. The change in leadership was precipitated by Motorola's inability, despite early successes with the RAZR cell phone model, to consistently gain ground in the handset space against global leader Nokia. During Zander's tenure, Motorola again fell behind Samsung to the #3 spot in 2007 (this first happened in 2004). Former AT&T CEO David Dorman was named chairman upon Zander's retirement in mid-2008.

Confirming rumors of a split, the company announced in 2008 that it would divide its business into two independent public companies in order to seperate its handset division from its broadband, network, and public safety products division. Motorola has said that it hopes the breakup, slated for completion in 2010, and new leadership will help to improve the performance of its unprofitable handset business. Additionally that year the company appointed Qualcomm veteran Sanjay Jha as the head of the mobile phone division; Jha will also serve as co-CEO (along with Brown) until the time of the split. Other plans to turn the company around include ongoing staff cuts.

Partly spurred by uneven performance from its core handset business, Motorola has embarked upon a string of acquisitions made in an effort to diversify and strengthen other product lines. It expanded its broadcast products division with the purchase in 2006 of privately held TV-on-demand services provider Broadbus Technologies. It also purchased Netopia, a maker of broadband routers and software based on DSL technology, in 2007 for $208 million. The company bought Symbol Technologies, a manufacturer of bar-code scanner and other devices, for about $3.9 billion the same year. The Symbol purchase formed the core of Motorola's enterprise wireless products business.

Aiming to boost its home video and network technology business, Motorola paid $140 million for Terayon Communication Systems in 2007. Other 2007 video technology purchases included digital video technology company Tut Systems for approximately $39 million and Modulus Video, a developer of video coding compression systems used in VoIP, cable, broadcast, and satellite applications.

The company also acquired a mobile devices R&D facility (located in the "Danish Silicon Valley" at Aalborg, Denmark) from BenQ Mobile, UK-based mobile phone software and chip maker TTP Communications, and wireless software developer Good Technology.

Motorola agreed in 2008 to sell its biometric systems business, including the Printrak brand, to defense contractor SAFRAN. The company's biometric unit makes fingerprint identification systems for law enforcement and other civil agencies, as well as commercial clients.