Is Ed Zander in trouble at Motorola?

Is Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) really spinning out of control? According to this Forbes article, the picture is incredibly bleak for Motorola right now.The "Motorola RAZR" fever that swept the wireless industry over a few years ago has worn off completely, and Motorola has fallen way behind rivals in getting new and exciting products to market. Samsung and Nokia Corp. (NYSE:NOK) are introducing new and fresh products every other day it seems -- but where is Motorola?

It's losing profit by leaps and bounds as it aggressively discounts older but still nice-selling handset inventory. Instead of competing with newer and rapid-fire models that are coming out of competitor Samsung these days, Motorola is bringing tired, old designs to market with more colors -- not exactly innovative. Sure, the Motorola RAZR brought the company back to the limelight in 2004 and 2005 -- but its handset product division is now old and boring according to industry experts. Is Ed Zander to blame?

He took the helm at Motorola just as the Motorola RAZR was being finalized in development -- so he had nothing to do with that success (although he took credit). The Street has been asking Zander "what have you done for me lately," and so far, he has no response. The once-hailed leader of Motorola during the last few years is seeing issues all over the place as competitors step up to quash it at every turn. Losing design and marketing wunderkind Ron Garriques to Dell last week will only amplify Motorola's misfortunes. 2007 will be the "put up or shut up" year for Zander -- will he survive?