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Motorola started as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in 1928. The name of the company was changed to Motorola in 1947, but the word had
been used as a trademark since the 1930s. The company is based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.
Founder Paul Galvin came up with
the name Motorola when his company started manufacturing radios for cars. A number of early companies making phonographs, radios, and other audio equipment in the early 20th century used the suffix "-ola", the most famous being the Victrola.
Many of Motorola's products have been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator for radios,
through the first walkie-talkie in the world, defense electronics and
mobile phone manufacturing. The company is also strong in semiconductor technology, including chips used in computers. Motorola has been the main supplier for the microprocessors used in Apple Macintosh and Power
Macintosh personal computers. The chip used in the latter computer family, the PowerPC, was developed with IBM. Motorola has a diverse line of communication products, including satellite systems,
digital cable boxes and modems.
In February 2004, Motorola announced that it would spin off its semiconductor business
unit into a separate company called Freescale. The change was slated for the
spring of 2004 when the new company would make its IPO.
See also: List of Motorola
products
External links
See also
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