Revamped Motorola phone unit will realign its product teams

The newly reorganized Motorola phone manufacturing company, soon to be spun off, will undergo a radical realignment that eliminates the bureaucratic barrier between software and hardware divisions, according to a company memo.

To get Motorola ready for a planned spinoff of its mobile phone business, Motorola CEO Greg Brown issued a memo to employees outlining a reorganization into new product and "Go to Market" (GTM) teams, also announcing the names of execs in new roles, including those of leaders of the new "Mass Market" and "Mid and High Tier" product groups.

In Mobile's new mobile phone organization, each of the product teams will combine hardware and software specialists, according to Jennifer Erickson, a company spokesperson. Previously, hardware and software specialists worked in different groups.

But as Motorola now sees it, the new approach will spur more efficiency, Erickson told BetaNews today.

"Integrating hardware and software teams creates single points of accountability and strengthens collaboration, both of which accelerates our time to market," she elaborated in a statement this afternoon.

Motorola's multimedia and feature phones, formerly handled by separate departments, will now be brought together in a single product team, known as Mid and High Tier Products, to be led by John Cipolla.

Cipolla will report to Rob Shaddock, who has been named leader of Consumer Products. Steve Lalla will be product leader for Mass Market Products, a group that will handle lower-end, voice-oriented phones.

Meanwhile, the newly consolidated GTM teams will be geared to listening to "the voice of the customer," according to Erickson.

The consolidated GTM team is envisioned as bringing "greater coordinating and consistency across the regions to meet customers' and consumers' needs," BetaNews was told. Bruce Brda will now head up Worldwide Sales and Operations, according to Erickson.

Todd DeYoung will take on new responsibilities in Portfolio Management, while continuing to lead Strategy, Applications & Services, while several other Motorola executives will remain in their current jobs under the reorganization.