In a well timed announcement, Motorola has signed up the England football captain David Beckham to be their global brand ambassador. David Beckham became a global megastar as the face of Vodafone's Live campaign and player for Manchester United, then also sponsored by Vodafone. We've already seen mobile operators pull out of a lot of football club sponsorship, but this growth by a handset manufacturer demonstrates the shift in the balance of power between handsets and operators. Interbrand's 2006 survey will be published shortly and we will almost certainly see the Handset manufacturers doing better than the Operators, and deals such as this one can only reinforce the strength of the handsets over the operators.

Original Source: Mobile Strategies