Telecom Lead India: Revenue at Google’s Motorola business declined to $1.02 billion in Q1 2013 from $1.51 billion in Q4 2012.
The Motorola business, which Google acquired for $12.5 billion in May 2012, posted an operating loss of $271 million in the first quarter. The operating loss was -27 percent of Motorola Mobile revenues in the first quarter of 2013.
Motorola Mobile Revenues (hardware and other) was 7 percent of Google’s consolidated revenues in the first quarter of 2013.
Google’s Motorola will launch several premium smart phones in coming months.
“For now however, the Motorola business continues to be a drag on Google’s consolidated results,” said Gillis of BGC Partners.
The company’s Android operating system has leaped past Apple Inc’s iPhone and its iOS software to become the most popular smartphone software, used on more than 70 percent of devices, according to Gartner.
During an analysts call announcing the Q1 result, Google CEO Larry Page spent much of the conference call discussing new products such as the Google Glass wearable computers and high-speed fiber networks that the company is developing, which he said were vital to the company’s future success.
He said the new lineup of yet-to-be-released Motorola devices would offer a variety of improvements over current smartphones, with features such as longer battery life and better resistance to shattering or damage from spilled drinks.
On a worldwide basis, Google employed 53,891 full-time employees (38,739 in Google and 9,982 in Motorola Mobile and 5,170 in Motorola Home) as of March 31, 2013, compared to 53,861 full-time employees as of December 31, 2012.
