Under Ed Zander Motorola has a new dance. It's aiming to be the Ginger Rogers of technology. (Send an e-card of this illustration thruogh FamousFoto.)

At the 1992 Democratic Convention former Texas governor Ann Richards explained it this way. "Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."

Motorola is letting others dictate the dance, it's adapting its form to their needs, and it hopes to leave with the diamonds on its neck, arms and fingers.

Let me give you two examples.

• For T-Mobile Motorola has created the CN620, a combination WiFi and cellphone. The catch is that the WiFi set-up is 802.11a, not 802.11b, so it won't really work in many hotspots. If you buy and build an 802.11a network at your home it might let you do VoIP, but most T-Mobile customers who get this are going to end up saying thanks for nothing. (Illustration from Slashphone.)

• For Apple, meanwhile, Motorola is building iTunes capability into the next generation of their cell phone. The catch here is that the capability is very limited, the music remains under Apple's control, and you (the customer) get to pay 99 cents per song for music you may already own on CD.
  

The point in both these cases is the same. Motorola's partner calls the tune. But Motorola demonstrates its prowess. Motorola gets great press. Motorola seems to deliver what the public wants, but actually the way its partners want it. (When the products fail it's the partners' fault.) Motorola continues to dance while, in the background, Zander works his turnaround magic.

Motorola is already gaining back some of its cell phone share. This keeps up the buzz, and any publicity is good publicity.