Motorola CEO Greg Brown seeking out new executive to lead handset division

Well, it looks like Motorola (NYSE: MOT) CEO Greg Brown is getting a bit tired (or overwhelmed) with the responsibility of leading Moto’s handset division. In a “chat” at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in Dana Point, California, Brown stated that he’s spending about 80% of his time in his search for a new executive to head the flagging handset division at Motorola.

Motorola is looking to bring on an executive from outside the company, much as they did when Paul Liska joined as CFO, with a good deal of experience in consumer electronics. The new executive will be charged with guiding the handset division to a
product-led recovery.”

Brown also stated that Motorola acknowledges the trouble the company is in, and declined to comment on how Moto’s renewed network equipment business will affect the handset division’s future. He added that Motorola needs to broaden its 3G handset lineup, find the right people to lead the product development side of things, and (most importantly) Moto needs to figure out their software strategy.

If Brown can find the right executive and start churning out cutting-edge handsets that concentrate (again, most importantly) on the user experience (as defined by the User Interface), we could see Motorola claw its way back to profitability. Maybe.