Motorola this morning announced it's splitting into two companies: a "Mobile Devices" company that makes cell phones, and a "Broadband & Mobility Solutions" company with all the other parts of Moto. Existing stock holders will get shares in both companies.

The unfortunately acronymed BMS will include Motorola's Enterprise Mobility, Home & Networks and Public Safety divisions. That includes the former Symbol, which makes ruggedized handhelds for businesses; the former Good, which makes enterprise e-mail software; Motorola's huge back-end networking business; and units which make home phones, cable boxes, and WiMax equipment.

Meanwhile, Motorola isn't just leaving the phone unit on a cold hillside to die, the company said.

"We're going to take actions to strengthen our mobile device team, and enhance the product portfolio," spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said. "We're got a global search out for a CEO of Mobile Devices, and it will be a product-focused recovery."

[Did anyone see this coming? You bet. Go here for details.]

Motorola has had several major executive departures recently. This month alone, Mobile Devices head Stu Reed and marketing chief Casey Keller both left, along with the company's head of mobile devices for Europe, the Middle East and Asia. That follows the departure late last year of then-CEO Ed Zander and CTO Padmasree Warrior. The mobile devices business is right now being run directly by current CEO Greg Brown.

"Our priorities have not changed with today's announcement," Brown said in a press release. "We remain committed to improving the performance of our Mobile Devices business by delivering compelling products that meet the needs of customers and consumers around the world."

The company says they hope the separation would become complete in 2009.

This is one of those stories that makes absolutely zero sense from a product perspective; it's all about the machinations of the stock market. Motorola may have just barely slipped to #3 in global mobile phone share, but they're still a dominant #1 in their home US market, and their product situation isn't so bad as to be unsalvageable. I've written previously about why the death of Motorola would be a complete catastrophe for US wireless consumers; basically, they're the only major mobile phone manufacturer to treat our difficult, complex market as a top priority.

Unfortunately, Motorola is under attack from predatory investor Carl Icahn. He and other investors see Moto as a two-faced company. There's the boring, profitable, stable networks-and-enterprise business, and the volatile, boom-and-bust handset business. They want to be able to invest in the networks-and-enterprise business without being exposed to the wild mood swings of the faddish handset market.

The problem is, neither Motorola spinoffs nor handset spinoffs have done well in the recent past. In 2004, Motorola spun off its chipmaking division as Freescale Semiconductor, which hasn't been a great financial performer. Meanwhile, in recent years, European mobile phone firms Siemens and Alcatel have both taken the Motorola route in spinning off their handset divisions to focus on more profitable back-end equipment. The Alcatel spinoff is struggling; the Siemens handset division collapsed completely.

Motorola's Erickson insists that's not happening here.

"It will be business as usual" for Motorola's mobile phone division, she said.

For more on this story, go to PCMag.com.