Motorola Celebrates 80 Years

In 2008, Motorola celebrates its 80th anniversary as a high technology communications innovator.  To look back upon 80 years of innovation is to see the spirit of innovation that Motorolans carry into the 21st century.  Some say change is inevitable.  Yet, the question of how individuals, businesses and governments navigate change remains a challenge in each era.  Motorola’s role has always been to enable the possibilities, by advancing the way the world connects.

The context of change in the last 80 years has largely been centered on mobility and communications.  That context gave Motorola its start.

• Early in the 20th century, Americans grew more mobile with the advent of the affordable automobile.  Motorola engineers enabled mobile information and entertainment with its first car radio.  As the number of automobiles grew, Motorola engineered its first two-way police radio to help ensure the safety of a more mobile society.
• This shift to mobility continued and Motorola made mobile communications personal with the world’s first FM portable two-way radio.  That innovation laid the groundwork for the combat radio American soldiers took into the field during World War II.
• In the 1960s, mobile communications took on a new scale as humanity traveled to the moon on Apollo 11.  In 1969, the first words spoken from the moon were carried to the Earth over Motorola equipment. 

The pace and scale of change accelerated in the second half of the 20th century and took on global proportions.  Motorola continued providing new ideas and new technologies for advancing the way the world connects:

• The DynaTAC cellular phone and network were invented in the 1970s and commercialized in the early 1980s.  In fact, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the first portable phone to receive FCC acceptance in 1983. Cellular communications networks began their continuing evolution as part of the backbone of the world via the deployment of the DynaTAC phone and network, followed by numerous follow-up innovations in phone styling and network capability.
• At the dawn of the 1990s, the world began moving beyond the limits of the Cold War.  As a new global community took shape, Motorola introduced the first GSM networks and phones, enabling mobile communications on a new scale. 
• As e-mail became a staple of communications, Motorola worked to extend text capabilities into two-way paging systems.  Over the course of the 90s, phones became smaller, added Internet features and worked on multiple networks so mobile communications could transcend boundaries in a globalizing world.

Motorola started its life as a 20th century American company.  Today, Motorola is a global company with more than 60,000 employees waking up each day in different time zones around the world.  No country monopolizes creative energy in the 21st century and Motorola hires the best and the brightest wherever they are found.  Our research labs dot the world map and we operate more than 350 facilities in more than 70 nations.

The world of the early 21st century is more connected than ever.  The trends Motorola enabled 80 years ago – mobility and communications – continue evolving.  In the present day, mobility and communications are components of yet another trend: integration.  As the world economy integrates and more people are connected to each other, to government and to opportunity, Motorola continues to advance the way the world connects.

Yet, even in an integrated world, one size does not fit all needs or usage models.  4G networks such as LTE and GPON cover vast distances, enabling greater ranges of mobility and connecting more people from a single node than ever before.  Cable, satellite and telecom carriers all service customers in the consumer and business worlds.  Mesh networks today provide flexible and reliable connectivity for emergencies and special purposes.  Likewise, the applications running over these networks enable greater creativity and productivity on the go.  Those applications range from Media Mobility for consumers to mission-critical data and communications for public safety first responders.  Motorola provides innovation in these areas and many more.

The sense of an integrated world in the 21st century also presents the need for social responsibility at the individual and corporate scale.  Motorola’s global employee base implements a value set ideally suited to such a commitment.  Motorola employees routinely volunteer in schools and community organizations and the company adheres to environmentally-friendly practices throughout its system of sites and vendors, coupled with an eye to diversity as a strategic commitment in an integrated world.  Because of the nature of our technology and our enabling role in a changing world, we also work to make sure connectivity is available to the next billion users on the planet, the emerging nations who are just now contributing their creativity to the global community.