Motorola Signs Up Verizon and T-Mobile

It wasn't that long ago that Motorola (MOT) played hardball with the wireless carriers that sell its phones. Back in the 1990s, when Motorola was top dog in the cell-phone business, it could dictate terms to carriers like Verizon Wireless and AT&T (T) if they wanted certain hit phones or discounts on pricing.

These days, a humbler, hungrier Motorola is emerging. Sanjay Jha, the company's co-chief executive, is struggling to reverse a long decline and make the company competitive in the mobile-phone business again. Sources familiar with Motorola's interaction with carriers say the handset maker is offering service-providers the opportunity to dominate branding on Motorola phones, and the company intends to share revenues that other phone makers won't. "We are impressed with the new urgency at Motorola," says an executive at one of the major carriers in the U.S.