Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones, yesterday announced a management reshuffle in Taiwan and China as part of the US handset vendor's strategies to focus on the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.
During a press briefing in Taipei yesterday, Simon Leung (梁念堅), regional president for the Asia-Pacific, said that Tom Sun (孫大明), president of Motorola Electronics Taiwan Ltd, will be stationed in Beijing as of next month as the company's chief representative in China.
Sun will be the first to fill this position, which Motorola created to spearhead is plans to tap into China's massive handset market. He will have to report to Kao Ruey-bin (
Sun's vacancy will be filled by Tom Hsiao (
"The new leadership structure underlines our increasing emphasis on the Asia-Pacific, where half of the world's population lives, and the emerging markets of China, India and Indonesia will provide the most growth momentum," Leung said.
According to a Bloomberg report earlier this month citing market researcher Gartner Inc, Motorola, which sold more mobile phones in China than any other company from 1999 to 2001, saw its market share fall to 12.1 percent last year, putting it in the second place behind Nokia Oyj, the world's No.1 handset maker. Motorola's market share was about 20 percent in 2002.
"In China, around 4 million new customers sign up for mobile services every month, and its handset replacement market is also huge," said Sun, who led the initiatives to establish two research-and-development centers during his eight-year service in Taiwan.
China is the world's largest mobile-phone market by users, with 358.5 million subscribers at the end of May, 19 percent more than a year earlier.
By relocating Sun to China, Motorola plans to rely on his rich experience and networks built up in Taiwan to further extend the company's close cooperation with local partners, including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
However, rumors have long circulated that Motorola might shift more outsourcing orders to Foxconn International Holdings Inc (富士康), a unit of Hon Hai, threatening Compal Communications' profits. Compal Communications, a handset-manufacturing subsidiary of laptop computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), makes 80 percent of its sales by supplying handsets to Motorola.
Leung declined to comment on the widespread speculation.
"We'll work closely with our many partners in Taiwan and further push up our market share, revenues and shipments," he said.
Hsiao, who has worked at Motorola for 14 years, said he will prioritize the integration of resources in the company's four business divisions, namely connected home solutions, government and enterprise mobility solutions, mobile devices and networks.
"Our goal is to create value-added services to further expand our market share," Hsiao said, refusing to provide any detailed figures about the company's prospects.
Motorola handsets accounted for nearly 22 percent of the domestic market by the end of last year, outperforming the runner-up by about 5 percentage points, he said.
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