THE IBM AND MOTOROLA COMPANIES
The international Business Machines (IBM) Company was founded in 1911 and was initially called the Computing-Tabulating-Recording (CTR), a company that leased out unit record equipment to insurance agencies and the government. Originally, it was a merger of three manufacturing businesses that was orchestrated and financed by Charles Flint. In 1924 after Thomas Watson took over, the companies name changed from CTR to IBM and started to manufacture office machines such as electronic typewriters. In the 1940s and 1950s, the company first experienced on computers which was a success and in the 1960s, their big breakthrough came and they produced their Model 360 mainframe but in the 1980s, the company faced losses as the mainframe failed due to the revolution of the personal computers. Currently, it is one of the largest systems integrators and computer companies in the world.
On the other hand, the Motorola Company, a multinational telecommunications company was founded in 1928. Their first products were battery eliminators devices that enabled radios that used batteries to operate using household electricity. In 1943, Motorola went public and by that time, their main business was the production and sale of radios and television. Motorola designed, and sold wireless network equipment like signal amplifiers and base stations for cellular transmission. When they produced a wireless telephone handset, they pioneered mobile telephones. In 1998, two thirds of the company’s gross revenue was generated from cell phones. In the same year, Nokia overtook Motorola as the mobile phones handsets biggest seller in the world. The company later divided into two; Motorola mobility and Motorola solutions companies after facing a $4.3 billion loss between 2007 and 2009. In 2012, Motorola Mobility was sold to Google.
There are several similarities that can be seen between these two companies. The two companies were faced with billions of losses at one point. The Motorola Company was faced by a loss that amounted to $4.3 billion in the late 2000s. The IBM Company was faced by a $8 billion loss in 1993 after the fail of their giant mainframe. Both companies have produced products that failed due to revolution in technology. Motorola’s battery eliminator devices became obsolete due to the advances that were made in radio technology. The IBM’s mainframe invention failed because it did not adjust to the revolution of personal computers fast enough. At one point in time, the two companies were among the largest in the world, in their respective industries. In 2014, the IBM Company was one of the world’s largest companies that produce computers. Motorola on the other hand was named as the world’s leading cell phone producing company in 1998.
The main difference between these two companies is the type of products that they produce. The IBM Company designs and sells computers hardware, software and middleware. The company also provides consulting, and hosting services in a lot of areas including mainframe computers, and nanotechnology. Motorola company produces smartphones, tablet computers, two-way radios, cable television systems, and mobile telephone infrastructure among others. Another difference is in their biggest inventions. Motorola invented the mobile telephone that revolutionized the telephone technology. The IBM invented automatic teller machines (ATM) that revolutionized the world’s banking systems.
The IBM company is better because it has been through more problems and still managed to emerge as the best in its industry in the whole world. A lot of their inventions has revolutionized the world, including the ATM, hard drives, floppy disk and many more.
