Moto adds manpower to handset unit

Motorola has beefed up the management at its ailing handsets division with the appointment of Alain Mutricy as senior vice president for platform technology within the Mobile Devices business.

Mutricy’s move to Moto concludes an 18 year stint at Texas Instruments, where he mosts recently held the position of vice president.

He will be responsible for defining and directing the business unit’s global strategy for silicon and software platforms and will report directly to Terry Vega, head of products and technology as well as co-leader of the Mobile Devices business.

Motorola, which is having a terrible time of it in the handset space, lost Ron Garriques, the head of its mobile devices division, in February.

Last month, the world’s second largest handset manufacturer said that sales in the Mobile Devices segment came in at $5.4bn, down 15 per cent compared with the year ago quarter. The beleaguered unit also incurred an operating loss of $231m, compared with operating earnings of $701m a year ago.

Greg Brown, president and chief operating officer at Moto, said of Mutricy: “We are excited about the depth and breadth of his chipset-platforms and product-management expertise. His proven capabilities will help drive future successes for our Mobile Devices business as we work to design and deliver the world’s most compelling mobile communications experiences.”