Motorola has announced a $US397 loss for its third quarter or $US0.18 a share, reversing a $60 million profit for the same period last year, on revenue that cratered to $US7.48 billion from the year ago quarter's $US8.81 billion. Analysts had been expecting a $US0.02 cent a share profit on revenue of $US7.82. billion

Co-CEO Sanjay Jha announced a further 3000 layoffs, which come on top of 10,000 over the past 18 months as the company has struggled with poor results overall, and its cellphone division's inability to produce a follow-up hit to its now languishing Razr. Competition from outside the traditional industry, chiefly Apple's iPhone, has contributed to Motorola's woes.

While no further announcement was made today about rumours earlier this week that the company will place a heavy bet on new models running Google's Android operating system, Motorola's National Sales Manager Scott Stevens tells NBR that "New Zealand will have the option to range Android-enabled devices, and Motorola will be introducing handsets supporting the Android operating system in the second half of next year."