Motorola  (MOT) said that third-quarter net profits fell to $60 million, or 3 cents a share, from $968 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier.

The average forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Financial was for earnings of 4 cents a share. Sales declined 17% to $8.8 billion. Motorola said it shipped 37.2 million handsets in the quarter. Sales in the mobile device segment fell 36% to $4.5 billion. Motorola estimated its market share in the quarter at 13%, according to MarketWatch

Douglas A. McIntyre