The Modern Tragedy of Motorola

I’m a big believer that that history needs to be preserved. We need to know where we came from to fully appreciate where we are today and where we are going into the future. An understanding of the origins of all things can help us more precisely understand the future. This is true in food, where understanding of classic cuisine is the foundation of most modern cuisine. You cannot write the history of the computer without the stories of Apple, Microsoft, and IBM. It is with this in mind, that I look at what has become of Motorola as a case study in when wanting to preserve history goes wrong. A company that was once synonymous with the cell phone, has now come into the realm of “Oh, they still exist”. This is the sad story of mismanagement, poor intentions, and loss of identity of a giant that has been brought to its knees.

Motorola often gets forgotten as a great American tech success story, being in the shadow of Microsoft, Google, and Apple. The Chicago based company was founded in 1928 and it got its name selling radio technology in cars. From there the company was a part of the technological revolution in the United States post-World War 2. Throughout the decades, Motorola was an integral part in developing what would be the foundation of wireless connectivity such as the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard. In the era of the flip phone, Motorola was an innovator on…