Now Hear This!

When Sanjay Jah left Qualcomm to join Motorola as Co-CEO and CEO of its mobile devices business earlier this month, you knew more executive changes were coming. No one enters at that level without shaking things up, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Rob Shaddock, Moto’s senior VP responsible for consumer mobile products, has left after being promoted to the position just four months ago. Shaddock was formerly CTO of Moto’s mobile division. He is being replaced by John Cipolla, who has worked at Motorola for 30 years and who was also promoted in April as part of a mobile unit management overhaul at the company.

The latest in a long string of execs who have marched out of the Schaumburg, Ill-based company’s office since Ed Zander announced his resignation late last year, Shaddock reportedly resigned and his exit comes at a crucial time in Moto’s history as the company attempts a successful spin off of the mobile business and struggles to hold onto its worldwide 3rd place mobile handset market share.

NPD Group Monday reported that the company managed to “just barely” maintain its lead in the US market, where Moto once reigned with ease, during Q1 and the company’s unit-sales share fell 6% to 21% in Q2. LG, RIM, and Samsung gained US handset market share on Moto’s loss.

Meanwhile, the handset chip industry is consolidating. Recall the mega merger of STMicroelectronics’ and NXP’s wireless businesses (ST-NXP Wireless) that launched as recent as August 2. Now ST has announced it will buy out NXP’s 20% stake in the joint venture, signaling NXP’s exit from the mobile handset chip business. On top of that, ST today announced that Ericsson Mobile Platforms will be folded into its venture, creating a powerhouse in the wireless mobile semiconductor industry, one that should rival Texas Instruments and Qualcomm. Combined, the handset chip businesses from ST, NXP, and Ericsson has a massive tech portfolio and supplies four of the five handset makers -- Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG -- as well as Sharp.

Note that Moto is not mentioned among the handset makers supplied by the Ericsson-ST venture.

The news echoes trends of consolidation across the semiconductor industry and its continuing flow of mergers and acquisitions. M&A being as constant as change, one has to wonder when Moto will have some news on its mobile devices business.

Given the ongoing consolidation in the handset IC industry, the subtle celebration Qualcomm set off after its prized exec, Jha, shifted to Moto, and the existing relationship between Qualcomm and Moto, one has to wonder if Qualcomm will soon announce its own acquisition.

Will Qualcomm snatch up Moto’s mobile business? Share your thoughts below.

--Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News