Motorola CTO leaves company

The struggling mobile-phone maker confirmed on Monday that Padmasree Warrior, who was executive vice president and chief technology officer at Motorola, has left the company. Many references to her on the Motorola Web site have already been removed.

Motorola has CTOs for each of its businesses, including mobile devices, enterprise mobility solutions, and home and networks mobility, and they will continue to be in charge of commercialization of product development, Jennifer Erickson, a Motorola spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Rich Nottenburg, Motorola's chief strategy officer, will become responsible for Motorola's overall technology leadership, she said.

Erickson did not explain why Warrior departed, but said the move was in line with a plan outlined several months ago. "This is the final step in redefining the CTO responsibilities and is entirely consistent with the direction we outlined several months ago," she said.

Other components of that plan included a realignment of Motorola's software group, which was aimed at ensuring that the company's engineering and technology specialization directly supports its businesses, she said.

One version of Warrior's biography on Motorola's Web site says she was called "sharp as a Razr" by the Chicago Sun Times. She was responsible for Motorola's US$4.1 billion research and development investment and 26,000 engineers.

The change follows the announcement on Friday that Greg Brown, formerly president and chief operating officer at Motorola, would take over for Zander as CEO at the end of the year.

Motorola, despite its widely recognized brand, has struggled recently with declining revenue, profit and market share. The company met with major success with its Razr phone recently but has failed to match the success of the phone.