New chief appointed at Motorola

Edward Zander: Motorola's new boss

Struggling telecoms firm Motorola has appointed Edward Zander as its new chairman and chief executive.

Mr Zander, a former executive at Sun Microsystems, will take up his new position on 5 January, the firm said.

Motorola said its new chief brought with him "a wealth of experience and deep understanding of technology".

The company has been attempting to restructure amid falling demand for its products and tough competition from rival producers.

It has cut the number of its employees by 40% since 2000 and has announced plans to spin-off its semiconductor business.

But the firm had problems this year meeting delivery deadlines for mobile handsets.

Mr Zander said in an interview with the Reuters news agency there was clearly "room for improvement" at Motorola.

"There's been some missed things on products and some of the other areas. There's clearly a challenge here."