Google has confirmed that big changes are in order for its Motorola Mobility division.  As part of a restructuring, about one-third of its 94 global offices will be closed and around 4,000 (1,300 in U.S.) people will be losing their jobs.

“Motorola is committed to helping them (the employees) through this difficult transition and will be providing generous severance packages, as well as outplacement services to help people find new jobs,” the Google spokeswoman said.  -Reuters

Motorola is also going to scale back on the number of smartphones releases going forward.  After introducing 27 models in 2011 this is welcome news to us and, presumably, consumers seeking to avoid confusion.  Moving to just a few, albeit cool, device releases per year, it’s possible that Motorola may get away from entry-level handsets altogether.

Mr. Woodside wants to make the company’s products cool again by loading them with things like sensors that recognize who is in a room based on their voices, cameras that take crisper photos and batteries that last for days. – NYTimes