Motorola loses its crown

It is hard to believe that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is still No.1 at anything. But, until recently, it was the market share leader in the cellular handset business in the U.S. The company may be losing money. It may be laying people off. It may have had to delay spinning off its phone business.

Now, MOT has lost its last crown. According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung took the top spot in the third quarter. The paper reports "The South Korean company reached the milestone -- with 22.4% of the market compared with Motorola's 21.1% -- by offering carriers a full portfolio of devices, from high-end products such as the touch-screen Instinct to lower-end phones given free to customers who sign up with a particular carrier."

It sounds like old news, but that is the troubling part of it. Motorola lost most of its share overseas several quarters ago. It says something about the company that it could not come up with one or two models that would be popular in its home market. For crying out loud, the firm's headquarters is in Illinois.

What it comes down to is more depressing than market share. Motorola's product development operation is too devoid of good ideas that it has not produced a single model that consumers are anxious to own, something they would put on a table or desk so that other people could see that they own it.

It is as if the company made plans to fail.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.