MOTOROLA: THE company was founded by Paul V Galvin as the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, in Chicago, Illinois, in 1928. Its first product was a battery eliminator, allowing people to operate radios directly from household current instead of the batteries supplied with early models.
In the 1930s, the company successfully commercialised car radios under the brand name Motorola, a word suggesting sound in motion.
The name of the company was changed to Motorola, Inc., in 1947.
By the time of Paul Galvin's death in 1959, Motorola was a leader in military, space and commercial communications, had built its first semiconductor facility and was a growing manufacturer of consumer electronics.
Under the leadership of Galvin's son, Robert W. Galvin, Motorola expanded into international markets in the 1960s and began shifting its focus away from consumer electronics.
The colour TV receiver business was sold in the mid-1970s, allowing Motorola to concentrate its energies on high-technology markets in commercial, industrial and government fields.
By the end of the 1980s, Motorola had become the premier worldwide supplier of cellular telephones and in 1996 produced the 3.1oz, pocket-sized StarTACTM wearable cellular telephone.
By 1990, net sales topped $10.89bn with net earnings of $499m and a global work force 105,000.
In 1991, a technology alliance among Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola begins development of the PowerPC family of microprocessors.
In 1994, Motorola developed the first commercial radio system designed to integrate paging, data communications, voice dispatch and wireless telephones in a single radio network and a single handset.
1996 sawthe launch of the 3,1oz, pocket-sized StarTACTM, the world's smallest cellular telephone.
In 1998, telematics used wireless voice and data to provide vehicle drivers and their passengers with location-specific security, information, and convenience and entertainment services from a central service centre.
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