MOTOROLA Inc, the biggest United States mobile-phone maker, has posted an 84-percent drop in fourth-quarter profit after customers fled to Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.

Net income fell to US$100 million, or four US cents a share, from US$623 million, or 25 US cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement yesterday. Sales declined 18 percent to US$9.65 billion, meeting the US$9.64 billion average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.

Phone shipments plunged 38 percent as devices including the Razr 2, the follow-up to Motorola's best-selling model, failed to keep consumers away from Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Sync camera handset.

The slump will force Chief Executive Officer Greg Brown, who took over on January 1, to further broaden his lineup of video and music phones, according to Morgan Keegan & Co's Tavis McCourt.

"The look and feel of their phones is getting old," said the Nashville, Tennessee-based analyst, who advises investors to hang on to the stock. "People want touch screens and full keyboards, and Motorola's challenge over the next year or two is to really reinvent their product lineup."

Excluding costs for job cuts, profit was 14 US cents a share. On October 25, Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola had predicted profit of 12 US cents to 14 US cents.

Before yesterday, Motorola shares had lost 34 percent of their value in the past year. They fell US$1.01, or 7.6 percent, to US$12.32 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Tuesday.

Brown became chief after predecessor Ed Zander resigned in November. Zander had revived Motorola with the Razr, only to see its star fade amid gains by Nokia Oyj.

Other gainers include Samsung, which supplanted Motorola last year as the world's second-biggest maker of mobile phones.

Now Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, the fourth-largest handset maker, is threatening Motorola's third spot.