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25 Sep 2006
Symbol Technologies has claimed its channel will reap the benefits of the mobility vendor being acquired by rival Motorola.
As revealed by CRN last week (CRN Online, 19 September), Motorola has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Symbol for about $3.9bn.
Symbol has been touting its channel expansion plans and last month claimed its indirect business has rocketed from 45 to 75 per cent in the past three years (CRN, 4 September).
Jan Burton, vice-president for EMEA at Symbol, told CRN: “The deal is a growth story for the Symbol channel. This is a merger of two companies to take enterprise mobility to the next level.
“This deal is good for customers and channel partners. Symbol’s and Motorola’s missions are similar and the deal gives us an improved product portfolio and strength in the market.”
Burton said Motorola was interested and impressed with Symbol’s channel, due to the strong partner programme Symbol has in place.
“We are still looking for new Symbol VARs,” she said. “We want to grow in additional verticals, which is a great opportunity for our resellers.”
Pierre Lams, co-founder at Symbol VAR Handheld PCs, said: “The deal is a good thing for Symbol because its traditional market of rugged cellular products is coming under threat from firms such as Motorola.”
Lams added that Symbol’s products are traditionally more expensive than some rivals, but he expects the acquisition will lower the price point of its portfolio.
Richard Webb, directing analyst for wireless at market research firm Infonetics, said: “The acquisition of Symbol is focused around Motorola’s belief that everything is going wireless, and gives Motorola a complementary strength in enterprise wireless LAN.”
Webb said that all major acquisitions take time to digest, but the deal will give Motorola leverage particularly in the retail, manufacturing and logistics verticals.
“There does not appear to be too much overlap in the wireless product portfolios of Motorola and Symbol, and this should allow for a strong symbiosis,” he added.
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