The year 2001 is one that Motorola execs will want to erase from their collective memory. After years of sustained growth, the decline in the mobile phone market meant the company turned in a rather sizeable loss.
Fortunately for Motorola, and indeed the whole mobile phone industry, 2002 is a year pregnant with promise. The recovery of the US economy and the expected revival in the replacement phone market leads Richard Slee of Motorola's personal communications to "cautiously predict slow rather than dramatic growth". Yet the fact remains that the company really needs to shift phones, and in large numbers, too.
It's a tricky proposition. There's new opposition at the top-end of the market with personal digital assistant (PDA) makers such as Handspring and Pogo unveiling connected handheld PCs. At the bottom-end the pre-pay sector appears to have reached market saturation.
So how does Motorola grow its market share?
Quite simply, Motorola, traditionally perceived as the purveyor of dull but worthy business phones, is trying to get funky.
According to marketing director Steve Lyons: "Phones have moved from a technology market to a fashion market. They are the new Nike trainers - accessories to be seen with and that has been the key factor in the development of our new range."
The first glimpse of that new approach was seen with the launch of the V66 and V60 at the end of last year. Both models took the tiny clamshell-based V design, added new features including general packet radio service (GPRS) and retractable covers, and offered a menu system which, while still not as intuitive as that found on Nokia's phones, was certainly an improvement.
Coming in the next few months is Motorola's most radical design yet - the V70. Instead of a flip-open lid as found on other V series models the V70's top is retractable through 360 degrees. Features include GPRS, voice-activated dialling and a customisable main menu.
It will be followed later in the year by the T720 - a clam-style phone with a large colour screen. Also due in the summer are the V60i and V66i which add Java to the existing phones' specification.
There are no high-end PDA-style phones (Motorola's planned project with Psion was canned in spring 2001), though Lyons is adamant that Motorola hasn't deserted the business user.
"We are trying to incorporate some of the technology in the high-end phones into our new V range products," says Lyons.
Each model boasts GPRS for speedy and efficient access to wap sites, while all other models, bar the V70, include Java, which enables the user to download items such as games, screensavers and wallpaper and store them in the phone's memory. EMS, which enables the user to graphics, icons and sound to text messages, is across the range.
But for the cutting-edge facilities we'll have to wait until later in the year. Coming in October is the T725 which will let the user send images as messages. The company has not decided if it will feature an integrated digital camera like the Nokia 7650, or if one will be available as an add-on.
Finally in September Motorola will launch its first 3G phone, the A820. Slee expects 3G customers to "treat the phone the way in which they view Sky digital boxes," he says.
"Because of the ability of the handset to perform different functions, users can individualise the phone and only pay for what they want, whether it be messaging, gaming, music or pictures".
But will the networks deliver 3G on time? He acknowledges that "in the phone business, deadlines tend to slip, but even if they do this time it won't be by much".
Only time will tell whether the nation's style gurus are ready to trade their Nokia 8210s for Motorola's V series models.
As Motorola's top brass know all too well, fashion can be a very fickle mistress.
