Oh, the days when mobile phone veteran Motorola was hawking the slim Razr while competitors had bricks. Darn these young whipper-snappers like Apple and their iPhone doo-hickeys. Motorola, maker of the Verizon Droid, now finds itself being outsold by Apple. The Cupertino, Calif. company sold 8.4 million iPhones compared to 8.3 million handsets for the Schaumburg, Il.-based Motorola during the second quarter.
Of that 8.3 million, 2.7 million were Android smartphones, which Motorola is likely to increasingly depend upon as it shifts to a world where smartphones dominate the handset marketplace.
What a downfall for Moto. When Apple shipped its first iPhone in 2007, Motorola was pushing 35.5 million handsets out the door. Now the handset maker is trying to rebuild with a line of products centered on Google’s Android.
This isn’t the first time Apple has lapped a handset rival. Apple long ago displaced Microsoft’s Windows Mobile in the smartphone market. Although Apple’s pace is slowing somewhat, the iPhone and Android seem to be the only smartphone platforms reporting growth.
