谷歌擬在摩托羅拉移動裁員4000人

Google is planning to Cut about 4,000 jobs at Motorola Mobility and shift the company's focus to producing high-end smartphones as it tries to return the lossmaking handset manufacturer to profitability.

谷歌(Google)正計劃在摩托羅拉移動(Motorola Mobility)裁員約4000人，並將該企業的重心放到製造高端智能手機上，以期讓這家虧損的手機制造商恢復盈利。

The cuts represent about 20 per cent of the workforce at Motorola Mobility, which Google acquired in a $12.5bn deal last year. Two-thirds of the redundancies will be made outside the US.

4000人相當於摩托羅拉移動員工人數的20%左右。谷歌去年斥資125億美元將這家企業收入囊下。三分之二裁員將落在美國以外地區。

The handset business will also close about a third of its 90 facilities around the world and simplify its product range.

摩托羅拉移動還將把全球90處經營設施關閉三分之一左右，並簡化產品範圍。

Google said it was "shifting the emphasis from feature phones to more innovative and profitable devices", meaning more complex smartphones that can be used to surf the internet.

谷歌表示，摩托羅拉移動正在"將重心從多功能手機轉移到更富有創新性、利潤更高的設備上"，後者指可以用來上網的更復雜的智能手機。

"While we expect this strategy to create new opportunities and help return Motorola's mobile devices unit to profitability, we understand how hard these changes will be for the employees concerned," Motorola Mobility said.

摩托羅拉移動表示："儘管我們期待這一戰略將創造新的機會，幫助摩托羅拉移動恢復盈利，但我們理解這些變化帶給有關員工多麼大的困難。

"Motorola is committed to helping them through this difficult transition and will be providing generous severance packages, as well as outplacement services to help people find new jobs."

"摩托羅拉一定會幫助他們度過難關。我們將提供豐厚的遣散費，並將介紹新職、以幫助他們找到新工作。"

Google said severance costs would be no more than $275m, to be recognised in the third quarter.

谷歌表示，遣散費成本將不高於2.75億美元。該成本將在第三季度的報表中確認。

Cutting production of low-value phones will be essential in turning round the fortunes of the handset business. Last month, Google's first quarterly report with Motorola Mobility included in results showed that the handset maker contributed $1.25bn in second-quarter revenue, but had losses of $233m.

削減低價值手機生產，對於扭轉摩托羅拉移動的命運將是至關重要的。上月，谷歌將摩托羅拉移動收入旗下後發佈的第一份季報顯示，摩托羅拉移動爲谷歌第二季度的營收貢獻了12.5億美元，但虧損2.33億美元。

Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility has put the company head to head with Applein the battle for smartphones, with both companies controlling the hardware and software for their platforms.

收購摩托羅拉移動令谷歌與蘋果(Apple)在智能手機市場發生正面交鋒。對於各自的平臺，兩家企業都既控制了硬件又控制了軟件。

While Google's Android operating system is already widely used on smartphones made by companies including Samsungand HTC, owning its own handset manufacturing company is expected to give Google a deeper insight into how mobile customers behave.

儘管谷歌的Android操作系統已被三星(Samsung)、宏達電(HTC)等企業生產的智能手機廣泛使用，但擁有自己的手機制造企業預計會讓谷歌更好地理解移動客戶的行爲方式。

Big technology groups, including Google, Facebookand Microsoft, are trying to work out the best ways of transferring their businesses models to the mobile phone, as consumers shift from accessing the internet on a desktop PC to going online with a mobile device.

隨着消費者上網方式由個人電腦(PC)向移動設備轉變，谷歌、Facebook和微軟(Microsoft)等大型技術集團正試圖找出將各自經營模式移植到手機上的最佳方式。