Motorola is reportedly planning to pull out of the UK mobile handset market.

According to a source, it has cut its sales team in the country to two people, and intends to withdraw from UK distribution in the near future, with a possible return in 2011.

The one exception, apparently, will be the gold-plated, diamond-encrusted Diamond Motopure H12, which it sells in the UK through an exclusive deal with posh department store Selfridges. Sony Eericsson is also believed to be cutting back UK distribution as the recession bites.

A Motorola spokeswoman refused to confirm or deny the plan."We haven't made any statement. We don't talk about how many staff we have," she said.

Motorola yesterday announced plans to lay off a further 4,000 staff, and warned it was likely to report a fourth-quarter loss. X

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