Motorola’s New CEO – Let Us See What He Has to Offer

Implications: We can speculate as to what will happen to Qualcomm with the loss of Sanjay Jha but I would prefer to focus on Motorola. I am going to ask investors to give Sanjay Jha time to get his feet wet.

Analysis: Sanjay Jha has an uphill battle on his hands.  It is too bad that Brown could not have brought him on board sooner.  With the holidays coming up, yes you need to think about them now and Motorola has not done or shown anything new.  The holiday season is a huge time.  Even worse, back-to-school is coming and Motorola has not announced a thing yet.

Jha will not be brining any Qualcomm secrets to Motorola.  If investors are thinking that Jha will be bringing secrets you would be wrong.  What Jha brings are management skills, insight, technology leadership, and experience.  These are not exactly tangible things that an investor can get his or her hands around.

Jha may be criticized for leaving a successful company like Qualcomm.  However, I look at it this way and I am sure Jha does as well -  Where there is disaster and chaos there is work and opportunity.  Jha’s attitude is important.  Now the question is has Jha ever operated in such a crunch environment?

I think he has.  People forget or don’t realize, 14 years ago, Qualcomm was still fighting its way to the top of the business.  In 1994, Qualcomm was still a cowboy and an aggressive pain causing the established vendors nothing but trouble.  I remember those times.  You heard Qualcomm, and you thought Oh Boy!

Don’t get me wrong, I am paying these folks a compliment.  Qualcomm was and still is a force to be reckoned with.  I guess what I am saying is that since Jha came up through Qualcomm during those lovely tenacious days he probably has what it takes to help Motorola.  Of course you may accuse me of being kind but you know the man just stepped into a hornet’s nest of trouble so give him some air.  Heck, even Paul Jacobs paid Jha a compliment.

The key thing for investors is to hear Jha’s strategic plan and action plan for the next 6 quarters.  I can’t wait until 90 days passes.