NEW DELHI: Lenovo is merging its mobile unit with Motorola, which the Chinese brand acquired last year from Google for $2.91 billion.
According to a report by China-based website Xiaomi Today, Lenovo’s mobile unit is now becoming part of Motorola and both brands will now be run as a single entity in global markets.
A Motorola India spokeswoman confirmed to TOI Tech that this organizational restructuring is currently in the works. In the new setup, current Motorola president Rick Osterloh will be responsible for the two brands, and will report to Lenovo’s top brass.
The Lenovo India media relations team sent the following statement on the matter:
“As communicated in our recent Q1 FY15-16 earnings, to create a faster, leaner business model, we will align our smartphone development, production and manufacturing and better leverage the complementary strengths of Lenovo and Motorola to quickly drive growth. Lenovo’s Mobile Business Group (MBG) will continue to drive the overall mobile business, but will now rely on Motorola to design, develop and manufacture smartphone products. Both Motorola and Lenovo brands will remain in the market currently, and we are excited about our latest product announcements such as the Lenovo Vibe Shot, which we are currently launching.”
Though the two brands will merge into one in many global markets, both Lenovo and Motorola teams said that the two will remain separate entities in the Indian market for the moment.
“Long term branding decisions are still in discussion,” Lenovo India said in its statement.
