Motorola is spinning off its handset manufacturing, and this move might come in earlier than expected. This news was revealed by a top executive in an interview. W e can expect the spin-off in the first quarter of next year. It was reported in Business Week :

Motorola has said in the past it would separate the handset business and a set-top box division from the rest of the company during the first quarter. The company may be able to complete the transaction near the beginning of that period, Sanjay Jha [co-Chief Executive Officer Motorola] said. “The spin is looking good for first quarter, the early part of first quarter,” he said during the interview at an event in San Francisco.

This corporate split would give Motorola more opportunities to penetrate the mobile device market. Till now Motorola has focused on Android but they haven’t ruled out a Windows Mobile device line.  The separate mobile manufacturing corporate unit is another chance for the mobile manufacturer to work with Microsoft, instead of dealing with their lawsuits.

Motorola has set their direction towards maximizing market share in the smart phone. This is hinted by their recent acquisition of a location based services software developer. With a separate corporate identity the mobile manufacturing division can focus better on achieving success in this market.