Motorola’s Jha Seeks to Defy History After Spinoff

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Motorola Mobility Inc., the mobile-phone maker spun off from Motorola Inc. today, won’t just need to challenge Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. to succeed. It also needs to defy history.

No mobile-phone maker has returned to the top after losing its foothold, underscoring how competitive the industry is and how quickly customer tastes change. Motorola’s handset business, No. 2 globally as recently as 2007, has fallen to seventh, according to researcher Gartner Inc., and is now separating from the rest of the company in a bid to recover.