Motorola Shipped Just One Million Tablets in All of 2011, Bleeds $80 Million

Mototrola's Q4 financial earnings report is out, and while it's not extraordinarily awful, there's little to be impressed by. One standout number (for the wrong reason) was tablets shipped—a very meagre one million.

The only flops comparable to the Xoom are HP's TouchPad, which was axed in under two months, and RIM's PlayBook, which is still alive (but not yet updated to OS 2.0…). The starkest contrast, of course, is to Apple's iPad: 200,000 Motorola tablets shipped in the fourth quarter versus more than 15 million iPads sold. 

Motorola's net revenue for the quarter was $3.4 billion, driven by 5.3 million shipped smartphones, but it lost $80 million overall. In 2011, Motorola shipped a total of 42.4 million mobile devices, with 18.7 million of those being smartphones. This means tablets accounted for just 2.4% of the company's mobile device shipments.

“In the fourth quarter, we received very positive consumer response to Motorola RAZR, which combined an iconic brand with ultra-thin in an innovative smartphone. Our home business continues to be a leader in the industry’s transformation to all IP, with unique solutions that enable rich media experiences across any screen,” said Sanjay Jha, chairman and chief executive officer, Motorola Mobility. “We remain energized by the proposed merger with Google and continue to focus on creating innovative technologies.”