News

Moto CEO Downplays 'Screw the Nano' Comments, Predicts Apple Smart Phone

Friday, September 30th, 2005 at 12:15 PM - by Staff

Motorola CEO Ed Zander on Thursday backpedaled away from last week's "Screw the nano" comments and said: "We know that [Apple is] going to build a smart phone -- it's only a matter of time." Mr. Zander made the statements to CNET News after making a presentation at Technology Review's Emerging Technologies Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Last Friday, Mr. Zander was talking at a Silicon Valley leadership seminar when he was asked about Apple's new iPod nano. He replied: "Screw the nano. What the hell does the nano do? Who listens to 1,000 songs? Yesterday, he told CNET that his statements were "taken completely out of context. We have a great relationship with Apple. I've known Steve Jobs for 15 years.

"Sure, there is some tension there," he added. "We have the ROKR, and they have the nano. They are a competitor as well as a partner."

CNET reported that Mr. Zander also used his time at the MIT conference to show off prototypes of upcoming cell phones, including one that can download and play music videos. Unfortunately, he had problems getting it to stop, but CNET said that the phone "flawlessly played a Gloria Estefan video."

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 950 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:05 pm

Bread, meet butter.

You're just dry without it.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2051 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Oct 01, 2005 1:32 am

Quote:
Yesterday, he told CNET that his statements were "taken completely out of context.

Yeah. That's what politicians and corporate executives always claim when they show their arrogance and ignorance. As one of my mentors told me, "Be sure your mind is in gear before engaging your mouth." Motorola should dock this guy a year's salary for the damage he did to the company's image. If anyone lower than the CEO had said this, he/she would have been fired immediately.

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Steve W said:

member since 22 Nov 2002 with 482 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Oct 01, 2005 5:17 pm

gslusher wrote:
Motorola should dock this guy a year's salary for the damage he did to the company's image. If anyone lower than the CEO had said this, he/she would have been fired immediately.

Pfft. Even if he did get his salary docked, the board of directors would probably give him a little extra bonus that just happened to double the salary he "lost." And if he got fired, his golden parachute would immediately open and let him glide to a soft landing with a few million extra bucks.

I'm just a little bit cynical...

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A guest said: (hide)

Sun Oct 02, 2005 5:26 pm

>>Unfortunately, he had problems getting it to stop, but CNET said that the phone "flawlessly played a Gloria Estefan video."<<

CNET... as usual, good "factual" reporting...

I wonder if the music video was "Get on Your Feet"? We all know how MS CEO Steve Ballmer loves this song!

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