Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola has announced it sold 14.7 million phones
in the last quarter, down from 27.4 million a year ago, according to Reuters–an almost 50 percent drop from the same time last year, and one that brings the manufacturer to just six percent of global market share.

That’s no surprise, since the company has lacked a strong handset line-up for ages now. The lone bright spot, at least in terms of the struggling handset division, is its strong commitment to the open-source Google Android smartphone platform.

Several new Android-powered handsets would be welcome in 2009, especially considering that the Palm Pre and a third-generation iPhone loom over the horizon, and that Android seems to be off to a slow start otherwise.