A logo sits illuminated outside the Motorola pavilion during the second day of the Mobile World Congress 2015 (Photo : GettyImages/David Ramos)
Motorola's design chief, Jim Wicks, who was significantly responsible for the design of smartphones resigned from his post after 12 years in office. Former head of Lenovo's MGB Design Studio and Veteran Motorola designer, Ruben Castano, will take Wicks's position.
The former head of the design department at Motorola Mobility played a major role in endorsing projects like Moto Maker, under which smartphones were designed abiding by company norms. Now that he has left, Wicks will be joining the rest of the faculty members at the Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering.
Shortly after Rick Osterioh, president at Motorola, left his office in March, Wick left the company. At present, Osterioh has joined Google's hardware department. The two simultaneous departures of Osterioh and Wicks is a clear sign that Lenovo's takeover of the company in 2014 has only resulted into disorganization.
The Chinese technology company shelved 500 jobs at its Chicago headquarters last year. As of now, Iqbal Arshad still heads the engineering department at Motorola who was once a team with Wicks and Osterioh, reported Android Police.
In 2012, Google acquired Motorola Mobility and gave it a new mold to pull back its profits. Motorola has been suffering major setback in profit since 2000 after its share prices fell sharply. However, after acquisition of the company by Google, Motorola saw many changes.
When Lenovo acquired Motorola just after two years Google closed its final deal with the company, there were expectations that the company could reboot once again under a new administration. There were major changes brought to company as it not just had a new management at the top, but also a new location address from Libertyville region to the River North.
Since 2012, the Illinois-based company has been facing major turmoil in its business, but it somehow managed to retain leaders like Wicks as the head of design sector, Osterioh as the owner of the business and Arshad as the head-charge of the engineering section, all this while, noted Chicago Business.
According to Chairman of Motorola Mobility, Aymar de Lencquesaing, "We greatly appreciate Jim's contributions in leading a consumer experience design team that delivered standout, iconic, and award-winning industrial design and user experiences for Moto's mobile and wearable products."
