Today, we reported Lenovo’s plan to replace ‘Motorola’ brand with ‘Moto By Lenovo’. This news is not surprising but end of Motorola brand is a sad news. This is because Motorola has a long history with key milestones in the development of mobile phones. Many of us know Motorola for its smartphones but very few people know what Motorola achieved in past before it launched first mobile phone of the world.
Also see: Motorola mobile phone price list
Less Known Facts About Motorola
These are the less known facts about Motorola.
1. Motorola was founded in 1928 but its name was not ‘Motorola’. It was founded as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation when Paul V. and Joseph E. Galvin bought a purchased the bankrupt Stewart Battery Company’s battery-eliminator plans and manufacturing equipment. Its first products were battery-eliminators.
Later, Paul Galvin started thinking about a new brand name for Galvin Manufacturing Corporation‘s new card radio product. He selected Motorola brand name linking “motor” (for motorcar) with “ola” (because many popular of that time, e.g. Moviola, Crayola used this word at end). In 1930, it sold its first ever car radios.
Started it with a brand for product, in 1947 company adopted Motorola name.
2. In 1940, Motorola created the very first walkie-talkie. This device was named as ‘SCR-300’. It was also used US to communicate during World War II. This was very large to carry. So, Motorola also developed a backpack solution. One year later, they got success in producing a far more portable, Handie-Talkie. And this device became the trademark of Motorola in 1951.
3. In 1955, Motorola introduced the world’s first commercial high-power germanium-based transistor.
4. Motorola’s bat wing logo was designed by Zeke Ziner in 1955.
5. In 1956, Motorola developed the first ever pager. While pager devices couldn’t get enough popularity until 90s, Motorola’s existing Handie-Talkie radio pager, became popular in commercial usage. With a range of about 40km, doctors in New York city started using it and paid $12 a month to receive radio messages.
6. Beginning in 1958, Motorola started providing radio equipment for most NASA space-flights. Motorola’s radio equipments helped NASA during the 1969 moon landing. Neil Armstrong spoke the famous words “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” from the Moon on a Motorola transceiver
7. In 1960, Motorola introduced world’s first large-screen cordless, portable television. Later in 1963, Motorola introduced the first rectangular color picture tube. Later Motorola decided to to focus on In 1974 Motorola sold its television business to the Japan-based Matsushita, the parent company of Panasonic.
8. 1n 1973, Motorola came with first mobile phone of the world. 10 years later world’s first commercial cell phone, the DynaTAC 8000X was in market.
9. 1974 Motorola introduced its first microprocessor, the 8-bit MC6800 and then in 1984, Motorola introduced the world’s first true 32-bit microprocessor, the MC68020.
10. In 1996, Motorola introduced the lightest phone in the market Motorola StarTAC.
11. It was world’s biggest seller of mobile phones until 1998 when Nokia got the top spot beating Motorola.
12. In 1999, Motorola once again created buzz by launching world’s first smartphone with web browsing and email capabilities. This smartphone was iDEN i1000 plus.
13. Motorola RAZR was the best-selling phone in the US market until the launch of iPhone. Motorola’s RAZR sold over 130 million units.
These were the few mind blowing facts about Motorola. Motorola gave us lots of things and it played key role in the development of many things. We should always remember this company for its contribution in technology.
