Despite its announcement to trim its workforce globally by 3,500 (about 5 per cent) in the wake of the 48 per cent drop in profit, Motorola says its focus on providing cheaper mobile phones as part of its "Connect the next billion" campaign is very much on track. |
Motorala, the second largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, also said the job cuts would not have any impact on the research and development (R&D) work in India. "These are unrelated and distinct areas. There will be no impact on the R&D work and product development work," the company said in a written reply to a query. |
The company said it was yet to decide on the specific number and job roles from different regions in the proposed job cuts. "Motorola will trim its global workforce by 3,500. Globally, Motorola has not decided on the specific numbers, job roles from regions and/or countries," it added. |
Although Motorola feels its discounts on the expensive third-generation phones and focus on cheaper phones sold in emerging markets have impacted its profit, in spite of having 17 per cent growth in the sales, the company said its commitment to provide cheaper handsets remains. "We are committed to our goals and business plans," the company said in a statement. |
India presently is the key R&D hub for the company, which caters to 40 per cent of software requirement by the company globally. Motorola's India R&D is crucial to the company's focus on bringing out cheaper handsets for emerging markets like China, India and Russia, by providing software solutions. |
"The emerging markets are very critical for the company globally and my division (Global Software Group) will continue to focus in developing cheaper applications for handsets for the emerging markets, globally," Soumitra Sana, MD, Global Software Group, Motorola India told Business Standard. |
Motorola had been putting increasing focus on India for its R&D works. The company which opened the first R&D lab in India in 1991, now owns six R&D centres in India, spread over Bangalore and Hyderabad. Presently, the headcount R&D engineers across all its six R&D centres in India is about 2,800. |
The Motorola R&D centres in India are focussing on developing software applications for cheaper handsets with features like voice command SMS, brighter display, FM radio and torchlight, with an aim of further penetrating into the rural and unexplored markets. |