(Associated Press via NewsEdge) The head of Motorola's cell phone business resigned, focusing new attention on a division whose performance has faltered after two years of success fueled by Razr handsets.
The company announced Ron Garriques' departure in a news release just before Dell, the world's second-largest computer maker, named him president of a newly created global consumer division.
Motorola declined to say whether Garriques was leaving as a result of the missed profit forecasts and acknowledged pricing errors that have caused the company to lose favor with investors and industry analysts.
It named Ray Roman, senior vice president of global sales, and Terry Vega, senior vice president of global devices, as interim co-heads of the cell phone business.
Asked if Garriques was encouraged to leave, spokesman Paul Alfieri said: 'All I can tell you is that he resigned and we did not make a counteroffer to retain him.'
Garriques took over as head of the company's mobile devices business in September 2004, just as its trendsetting Razr was about to create a sensation on the global market, reviving Motorola's fortunes after years of sluggish results.
After joining Motorola in 1998, he had headed cell phone operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
But the business stumbled the past two quarters, disappointing Wall Street as the company lowered the Razr's price in a bid to extend its market-share gains, but saw profit margins eroded and momentum lost to competitors. Successors to the Razr have failed to match the ultra-slim phone's success.
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