Heidi Moore on the fade of Motorola and American manufacturing

She blogs:

Motorola has been losing the game of catchup for years, ever since it sat on its laurels with its successful Star-Tac phone in 1996. But by 1998, Motorola was restructuring. It was restructuring again in 2002, and in 2004, and again now.

All the while its mostly foreign rivals–Nokia, Samsung, Sanyo, LG and a flock of Chinese competitors–were pecking away at its market share, taking the luster off Motorola’s famous batman-like M ensignia. Motorola is today left with a modest 13% share of the global cellphone market, leaving it looking up to South Korea’s Samsung (14.5% share) and Nokia. And it’s not even that the market is more fragmented: Motorola was the dominant player in 1995–its best year — with an estimated 31% market share. Nokia now rules with nearly 40%.

Motorola’s manufacturing costs–and infamously slow manufacturing speed–have hardly been a strong statement for American industrial competitiveness. When Apple introduced the iPhone last July, it enjoyed margins of 55%, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion’s margins were 52% and despite aggressive outsourcing abroad Motorola’s mobile phones lagged far behind at less than 30%.

It's sad that U.S. factories perform as well as NY Yankee free agent pitcher acquisitions. But even protectionists are probably buying non-Motorola phones--next time you hear a Lou Dobbsian complain about lost manufacturing jobs, check out their cellphone.

And I am glad the Red Sox did not give up their prospects and cash for Johan Santana!