Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura International, must have time on his hands. In a memo to clients he passes along the opinion that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) may exit the handset business "and concentrate on becoming and enterprise and government company," according to a report at MarketWatch.
The buyer of the handset business could be a Chinese electronics firm.
The trouble with the speculation is that a firm in China would have the same trouble that Motorola does. With its share of the world handset market down from about 22% two years ago to 12% now, it does not have a single flagship model, like its old Razr, to get the company back on track. Larger rival Nokia (NYSE:NOK) has 40% of the worldwide market. Samsung and Sony-Ericsson are also taking share.
To put a fine point on it -- Motorola does not have anything to sell.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
