Motorola hopes John Bucher will lead phone revival

Motorola hoped to kickstart its phone strategy today by hiring on a corporate VP dedicated to strategy. John Bucher will control the direction of both the company's Mobile Devices group as well as its Home Business area. The exec is expected to help reinforce the company's attempt to gain smartphone market share.

Bucher is a somewhat unusual choice for the early cellphone pioneer as he doesn't come directly from the phone design industry. He most recently was a telecom analyst and was a director-level executive for cellular carriers before the Verizon union at the turn of the decade, such as for Bell Atlantic and PrimeCo.

The recruitment could be an important part of Motorola's mobile strategy as it works towards splitting off its mobile division in a separate company. It has already encountered some success with phones, as the Droid and other Android phones have helped Motorola as a whole stay profitable, but the mobile group continues to lose money. While smartphone share has increased, it still trails well behind fellow American firm Apple and still has to catch up to its closest Android-making rival, HTC.

By Electronista Staff