Motorola is to acquire leading point-of-sale and
short-range wireless infrastructure company Symbol Technologies for
around $3.9bn (£2.1bn).
Symbol solutions are amongst the most widely used systems in the
retail space for point-of-sale, and the company has expanded to
become a leading player in the radio frequency identification
(RFID) space. The company is also well known for its rugged
wireless mobile devices.
Motorola chief executive officer Ed Zander said, “This
transaction significantly advances Motorola’s enterprise mobility
strategy and is consistent with our focus on building on our
already strong intellectual property portfolio.”
Richard Webb, an analyst at Infonetics Research, said, “This
acquisition will give Motorola a great deal of leverage in the
burgeoning enterprise wireless market, and particularly in retail,
manufacturing, and logistics verticals, all of which have been
traditional strongholds of Symbol over the years, based on their
strength in data scanning and mobile computing.”
Upon completion of the transaction, Symbol will become a wholly
owned subsidiary of Motorola and will be the cornerstone of
Motorola’s Networks and Enterprise business, said Motorola.
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