Moto Hires Jha As Handset Chief, Co-CEO

Motorola lured away Qualcomm COO Sanjay Jha to become co-CEO and head of its ailing handset business in preparation for a planned spin-off.

Jha is taking control of the mobile devices unit from Moto chief Greg Brown, who has been handling since former device head Stu Reed left in March. Brown and Jha will now share the CEO position until the mobile business spins off, an event that’s supposed to happen in the third-quarter of 2009.

Jha definitely has his work cut out for him. Its share of the mobile phone market has been halved over the past two years thanks to more advanced handsets from Nokia and a little phenom called the iPhone.

According to a Bloomberg report, Motorola said it will release 34 devices by year-end, which makes us wonder is maybe it got “quality” and “quantity” mixed up.

Regarding Jha’s appointment, Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst Tavis McCourt told Bloomberg that it might be a couple of years before we see how Jha affects the actual product, while his effect on the business itself will be apparent sooner. “Probably his biggest impact will be the level and type of engineering talent he will attract to the company over time,” said McCourt.

(Image credit: Seokyong Lee/Bloomberg News)

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