Motorola unveils new patrol car, APX offerings

[Thunderbolt]

MINNEAPOLIS — Motorola Solutions will highlight a new patrol car with enhanced communications capabilities and new P25 device offerings this week at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) trade show.

Motorola unveils new patrol car, APX offerings - Urgent Communications article

[ff-medic]

1 - I do not like a numeric key pad on the microphone of a mobile radio.

2 - The radio is nice, but in my opinion ( and I am a very observant person ) , the Motorola mobile radio in
the article looks strikingly similar to a "Harris" mobile radio. Motorola purchases "Vertex Land
MobileRadio" as I have read in press releases - Now they are building radios similar
to "HarrisCommunciations" mobile radios. Hmmmmm? ------- > Makes you wonder does it not.

IS Harris Communciations giving Motorola a run for their money? Will Harris Communciations
eventually become the largest communications provider for Public Safety? After years and years
of what I describe as a "Monopoly" over FIRE/EMS/ Law Enforcement/U.S Government comms, Will Harris finally
overtake Motorola on the Public Safety market? Again.......Hmmmmmm?


FF - Medic !!!

[FFPM571]

1. the enhanced mic is optional.
2. Motorola bought vertex almost 7 years ago. It looks like anyone of the APX mobile radios just with a bigger display. All radios these days look simular.

Harris is not giving Motorola a run for their money.I see alot more large contracts being bid and won for larger cities and couties by Motorola than anyone else. Harris has had alot of bad press over the who opensky fiasco.

[kf4lhp]

Originally Posted by ff-medic

1 - I do not like a numeric key pad on the microphone of a mobile radio.

The enhanced mic is quite handy. We have an agency with them and the 1, 2, and 3 buttons are set up as channel presets that the deputies can program themselves. Makes it very easy to change channels when running hot to a call or during a pursuit.

[xmo]

"...Will Harris Communciations eventually become the largest communications provider for Public Safety?..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doubtful!

Consider this. Harris bought the two-way business from Tyco for something like $600 million. Motorola's Virginia STARS contract alone was more than $330 million. That's just one contract.

There's no real question as to who the BIG dog is in public safety communications. That said - competition is a good thing and having Harris nipping at their heels will help to keep Motorola on their toes.

[xts3000r]

I think Motorola will be on top for a long time to come

[Git-R-Done]

I think and believe Motorola will be the top dog in the business side of government/corporate contracts unless Icom & Kenwood comes up with something better for Motorola to contend with.

[MTS2000des]

Originally Posted by xmo

"...Will Harris Communciations eventually become the largest communications provider for Public Safety?..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doubtful!

Consider this. Harris bought the two-way business from Tyco for something like $600 million. Motorola's Virginia STARS contract alone was more than $330 million. That's just one contract.

There's no real question as to who the BIG dog is in public safety communications. That said - competition is a good thing and having Harris nipping at their heels will help to keep Motorola on their toes.

I wouldn't be so quick to write them off. Harris Corporaton is no small time operation. Their parent company is as large if not larger than Solutions and have been around just as long.

They dominate in the military world. My nephew just came back from Iraq after three years, and ALL he used were Harris radios. No XTS/APX. No Icom. No EFJ.

Harris.

They are here to stay and are agressively pursuing contracts Motorola doesn't appear interested in. I think their strategy is to build on their existing credibility in the defense/Federal sector and gain new customers.

I welcome this. Motorola's way of doing business is so 1980's. They act like they have no formidable competition and that simply isn't true. They have innovative products, but so does everyone else now, and at lower cost.

Competition is well overdue in the public safety wireless marketplace.

[ff-medic]

Originally Posted by xts3000r

I think Motorola will be on top for a long time to come

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_100...ral_government

Harris is #18 , on the list of the U.S Govts top 100 contractors, and I did not notice Motorola on the list. I guess Motorola is being left behind. Is that why their products are becoming overly expensive? They are becoming more expensive due to lost revenue? Lost revenue, and lost money for research and development?

The list is the latest, that I could find.

( note - some people do not like Wikipedia. Citations and references are at the bottom of the page )


FF - Medic !!!

[Denverpilot]

Harris also captured huge numbers of TV transmitters via sweetheart deals in the conversion to HD.

[ff-medic]

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

They dominate in the military world. My nephew just came back from Iraq after three years, and ALL he used were Harris radios. No XTS/APX. No Icom. No EFJ. .

I served in the U.S Military.I might be wrong, but I do not see Motorola doing tactical radios. For some reason I do not, that means that the Govt has to find a manufacturer to make tactical radios. They make the handheld and mobiles for military installations themselves, but for the "Field" , I think they cannot compare. They would have to come up with a field radio that is more marketable than the current radios, which is hard to do - since the current Harris radios are what is in use, and what the troops are used to.

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

They are here to stay and are agressively pursuing contracts Motorola doesn't appear interested in.

I believe that to be correct. Motorola believes that they can "Pick and choose" their contracts, due to that they "Currently" are financially stable, and have thoughts of that they have little competition.

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

I think their strategy is to build on their existing credibility in the defense/Federal sector and gain new customers..

Kind of hard to do. However troubling and unbelieveable to us, there is U.S Govt bean counters. If it has not already been done, someone will finally wake up and see that Motorola has been siphoning the U.S Government...Unreasonably... for years. U.S Government contracts will exist, but not on the scale you have seen in the past - I expect their contracts to downsize in the years to come.

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

I welcome this. Motorola's way of doing business is so 1980's. They act like they have no formidable competition and that simply isn't true. They have innovative products, but so does everyone else now, and at lower cost.

Yes. Kenwood could come up in the world. And if Kenwood were to take a sincere look at dropping their prices, Motorola would turn their heads ( Portables...Good Portables - for Motorola and Kenwood are both at about $1200.00. Vertex - A great portable handheld - Is about $650.00 ). If Kenwood was just a little bit more versitile, and kept up with their products ( ex. Sorry, we discontinued that product 5 years ago...No, we have no replacement parts or antennas..SO you have to purchase a newer model ) they could very well take a significant portion of Motorolas Public Safety market. I believe Kenwood to be great radios, but they phase out models too soon, and are priced almost exact as Motorola and others.

You have to set yourself apart to be looked at. If you stand with the crowd, it is hard to get recognized, Is it not?

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

Competition is well overdue in the public safety wireless marketplace.

YES it is. And thank you for your support in this thread. Us Public Safety professionals need it.

FF - Medic !!!

[ff-medic]

Originally Posted by Denverpilot

Harris also captured huge numbers of TV transmitters via sweetheart deals in the conversion to HD.

Interesting. I have not heard that

FF - Medic !!!

[MTS2000des]

Originally Posted by Denverpilot

Harris also captured huge numbers of TV transmitters via sweetheart deals in the conversion to HD.

and now they are leaving the broadcast market altogether, they annouced they were selling their broadcast division earlier this year, probably a good decision, as terrestrial broadcasting is in such poor shape financially and it's long term future is, well- up in the air.

Harris to sell Broadcast unit | Radio & Television Business Report

[ff-medic]

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

Harris to sell Broadcast unit | Radio & Television Business Report

Just like stocks and money markets. Stock prices and money markets go up, and they go down..But you still have the stock.

Harris should have kept this. I would believe that in the future, it would have benefited Harris financially and with their long term goals.

Just because you have pennies now, does not mean that those pennies will not lead to dollars later.

Investments sometimes lag behind, and dwindle. You have to keep investments long enough to see them through to success. You cannot expect to much to quick, and in my opinion..any CEO with experience, or any business background...would know this.

Small time, does not necessarily mean failure. Time is time, and it takes time to see and recognize improvements. An upwards flow and growth in an investment takes patience.

FF - Medic !!!

[ff-medic]

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

......as terrestrial broadcasting is in such poor shape financially and it's long term future is, well- up in the air.

That will be up to the U.S Government, future regulations and laws. If laws and regulations change; Harrris would have to reinvest to get back in the market, instead of setting on a "cash cow".

If Harris knew the future....If only Harris knew the future.


FF - Medic !!!

[MTS2000des]

Originally Posted by ff-medic

That will be up to the U.S Government, future regulations and laws. If laws and regulations change; Harrris would have to reinvest to get back in the market, instead of setting on a "cash cow".

If Harris knew the future....If only Harris knew the future.


FF - Medic !!!

Really? Can you elaborate? Because Clear Channel, Cox and Cumulus are all trying to figure out how to keep terrestrial stations profitable when no one is listening.

The writing is on the wall, the future of broadcast is IP. Look in the dashboards of all 2013 car models and you see USB/Ipod ports, even on-board Wifi and 3G/4G radio modules for...wait for it...streaming services. AM radio is on life support, more and more spoken word is replacing music formats which have gone to streaming/on-demand services from their former home on the FM dial. The average person under 35 doesn't even listen to terrestrial radio. The Internet put Blockbuster out of business, and radio knows it's on life support. Terrestrial TV is in the same boat, those who don't adapt for the future are destined to die.

Harris is smart, the top heavy, infrastructure heavy terrestrial broadcasting is on the way out. Even the FCC knows this, they after all, have bigger plans for the valuable OTA spectrum that DTV now sits on that, like broadcast radio, no one is watching.

Most broadcast engineers I know (and quite a few), are going back to school to learn IT, as their future will be maintaining routers, switches, data centers, and such- not replacing tubes and transistors in transmitters.

Harris is, like those BE's I spoke of, repositioning itself for the future, not dwelling in the past.

[902]

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

I wouldn't be so quick to write them off. Harris Corporaton is no small time operation. Their parent company is as large if not larger than Solutions and have been around just as long

I agree. They did not come up making refrigerators and desk fans. I saw a number of exciting products in Minneapolis and Harris was no slouch in that respect. Another player that has been far behind, but made a turn-around (in my opinion) is EFJ, which seems to have worked its upside down portalbe radio issues out (if you've ever used one...), and has some nifty IP-based system architecture that's evolved in the last 14 years.

Motorola brand loyalty runs rampant in the public safety world (i.e., Motosexy). But MSI is a whole different player than MOT was under the Galvin family. They've had to prune the company and trim it back to core strategies after the divestiture of MMI. The scope of Harris is vastly bigger and it can draw from the experience of its military and industrial product lines.

Watch where both Motorola Solutions and Harris go in terms of LTE systems, infrastructure, and subscribers. That's the battle which will determine the dominant player in the public safety market.

[motorola_otaku]

During the annual conference, Motorola Solutions will feature the new Ford Interceptor sedan patrol car..

The Taurus on steroids? Eewww. Should've gone with the Tahoe since that seems to be what most people are getting these days.

[W9BU]

There's an on-going thread in the Automotive forum about the new Ford police vehicles, so let's not take this thread too far off topic.

2012 Ford Police Interceptor: The Crown Vic's Replacement

FWIW, my local PD has eight new Fords currently being prepped for duty--5 Explorers and 3 Tauruses.

[MeddleMan]

...I thought this was about a Motorola Police Car. I read some of the articles and comments. Seems our county has gone for the four-door pickup packages for police, EMS, and other uses. I guess the body on frame issue is thought out thoroughly here. I think the patrol cars are getting phased out. Oh well. Maybe Athens-Clarke county will pick up some of the Ford Interceptors.