Head of marketing returns to Motorola

Motorola has poached marketing chief James King back from Samsung to take on the new role of European marketing director. He is expected to take on the role next Monday (September 1).

King’s decision to return to Motorola, where he was most recently marketing manager, comes just a month after he left for Samsung Mobile.

He joined the division as head of UK marketing in July. It is understood he has been working on the company’s new U800 handset before deciding to leave.

Samsung heralded King’s arrival at the company as a major coup for the division. He reported to general manager Derek Williamson, who arrived at the same time. King replaced Susan Land, who left Samsung Mobile to join Nokia (MW February 28).

His new role at Motorola is the latest in a series of management changes at the struggling handset maker, which is due to split into two divisions next year. At the start of August, it appointed Sanjay Jha to head its mobile devices division in preparation for the spin-off. Jha will also be co-chief executive of the parent company and will share the responsibilities with its current chief executive Greg Brown until the demerger.

The company’s handset division has posted heavy losses over the past few years. European handset chief Vik Patel left the company two weeks ago.

Prior to that, chief marketer Casey Keller and Stu Reed, global president for mobile devices, left the company in March after just eight months in the post.

King will report to Andrew Morley, vice-president of marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa.