Motorola shuffles mobile execs before spinoff

Motorola has finished its week by revealing (reg. required) an overhaul of its Mobile Devices division ahead of its expected spin-off into a separate company. The move sees new executives take over roles focused on targeting Motorola's phones at the right audiences. Company senior VP Rob Shaddock will now take over management of the division's consumer products and will watch over new sub-sections that tackle different classes of devices: a group headed by corporate VP Steve Lalla will handle mainstream products, while John Cipolla will take care of higher-end, media capable devices.

In a wider role, corporate VP Todd DeYoung will manage the broader perspective of the group. This includes both ensuring that phones are aimed at the right audience and that they fit within Motorola's larger goals, according to the company.

The move is described as a bid to improve the production process for cellphones at the division by encouraging more direct responsibility from top-level staff. New senior officials are said to have more say over both the hardware and software components in a fashion that should speed up the time phones take to reach the market.

Motorola chief Greg Brown is considered one of the architects of the reshuffling and has done so as part of a continued effort to reorganize after the company saw dramatic sales losses in late 2007, which prompted the resignation of company leader Ed Zander as well as several other key officials. In the US, the Motorola RAZR was the single most likely phone to be given up by users switching to the iPhone based on one survey.

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