Beckham Comes to Rescue Motorola

By Cho Jin-seo

Staff Reporter

Some football fans believe he is too good to play for a club like Los Angeles Galaxy. On Thursday, David Beckham appeared too handsome and too popular to advertise a cell phone.

The British football superstar arrived in Korea on Wednesday and had his second meeting with the Korean press Thursday morning, for the launch of a new mobile phone from Motorola, an American phone maker. The former England captain has been a brand ambassador for the company for almost two years now.

Motorola was supposed to be the host of the show, and Beckham the guest. But the reporters and photographers who filled the Westin Chosun Hotel ballroom did not seemed to care about Motorola and its ``RAZR2 Luxury Edition'' phone.

Even Motorola did not seem too concerned; Motorola Korea CEO Kil Hyun-chang abruptly resigned only a week ago for an undisclosed reason. Interim leader Choi Kun-sang wasn't present, either, as he was staying in the resort island of Bali along with other employees for a workshop, the firm said. Naturally, the show ended as Beckham left.

Motorola's phone division has been struggling due to falling sales and rumors of restructuring. However Beckham, on his tour to Asia and Australia with his club Galaxy, still fulfilled his ambassador's duty.

``I was very lucky when Motorola came to me with the idea and made me join their company. I think it's a company that is always growing, always getting bigger and getting more fashionable,'' he said, receiving showers of camera flashes for his 15-minute pep talk with Alex, a Korean singer, and Lim Joung-ah, marketing director of Motorola.

Beckham showed charm and a sense of humor that overshadowed the gold-plated phone. When a self-claimed fan asked what his ring-tone was, he replied: ``My ring-tone is Spice Girls. It has to be.''

Then when he was guided backstage by the host and the hostess, he made a gentle, decorative ``after you'' gesture for Lim, causing a chorus of sighs from many women in the room.

Ironically, Motorola and Galaxy have been facing a similar dilemma with their star players. Motorola was the second largest mobile phone manufacturer, second only to Nokia until 2006 with the massive hit of its fancy ``RAZR'' model ― the phone world's equivalent of Beckham. Then the company slumped as its popularity waned.

Its global market share has almost halved between 2006 and 2007 to 11.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, falling behind Korea's Samsung Electronics, according to market research firm Gartner.

In Korea, the surprising step down of CEO Kil has provoked speculation that Motorola is about to sell its ailing mobile phone unit. But Lim, the marketing director, flatly denied such rumors on Thursday.

LA Galaxy had some disappointments with their own star. They brought Beckham with a five-year contract worth $250 million last July from Spain's Real Madrid, which some thought was a ridiculously lucrative price considering soccer's meager presence in North America.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid player was supposed to lead Galaxy in football and in marketing, and he has somewhat succeeded in the latter field. But on the pitch he was disappointing, netting only one goal in five league matches while the team had nine wins, 14 losses and seven draws.

Beckham is to attend another press event Friday for sports apparel company Adidas, and to play a friendly match between Galaxy and FC Seoul on Saturday. He leaves for China on Sunday.

indizio@koreatimes.co.kr