Motorola Ships Fewer Tablets for the Quarter than Apple Ships in a Day
Motorola Mobility said Thursday that the company shipped only 100,000 Xoom tablets during the quarter, slightly less than the number of tablets Apple shipped in a single day.
Motorola Mobility said Thursday that the company shipped only 100,000 Xoom tablets during the quarter, slightly less than the number of tablets Apple shipped in a single day.
That was one of the few down points in a positive quarter for Motorola, however, which saw a 20 percent increase in mobile revenues, including an increase of 2.5 million mobile devices over the prior year.
Motorola, which is currently in the , said it shipped a total of 11.6 million mobile devices. Of those, 100,000 were the Xoom tablets, 4.8 million were smartphones, and the remainder were apparently feature phones.
While Motorola reported an 11 percent increase in revenue compared to a year ago, to $2.4 billion, the company lost $41 million. That loss narrowed from $43 million a year ago.
Motorola did not hold a conference call or release commentary associated with its earnings.
As Ian Fogg, a former wireless analyst for Forrester noted, however, the amount of Xoom tablets that Motorola sold was less than the daily average of iPads sold by Apple. Apple sold 11.12 million iPads during the quarter ended Sept. 24, an average of 120,870 tablets sold each day for the 92 days during the third quarter.
"Google will have to decide what to do with the 59 percent of Motorola's 11.6 million mobile devices shipped in Q3 that were *not* smartphones or tablets," Fogg added via Twitter.
Motorola put a positive spin on its results, bolstered by strong mobile revenues.
"Our third quarter revenues in Mobile Devices increased by 20 percent, driven by continued strong growth in international markets," said said Sanjay Jha, chairman and chief executive officer, Motorola Mobility, in a statement. "With the recent launch of our iconic , we now have several 4G LTE devices in our portfolio. Our Home business is creating innovative solutions for our customers, taking leadership in the transition to all-IP networks, and delivering solid levels of profitability. We are also excited about the proposed merger with Google and continue to make progress to close this transaction."
Motorola said that a special shareholder meeting will be held on Nov. 17 to allow shareholders to vote on whether the proposed merger should be approved. Antitrust clearances will be required in the U.S., by the European Commission, and in Canada, China, Israel, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey. In the U.S., the two companies have received a for information related to the merger from the Department of Justice, which will oversee the proposed merger and weigh its antitrust implications.