By Dave Porter

(AXcess News) Reno - Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) reported stronger-than-expected second quarter earnings Thursday, fueled by an increase in smart phone sales ahead of its planned spin off of its mobile unit as Motorola Mobility.

The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company reported earnings of 7 cents per share in the second quarter, compared to 1 cent a share, a year ago.  Those results where achieved dispite a 1.5 percent decline in revenue to $5.4 billion from $5.5 billion.  Tech pundits where looking for 6 cents per share in earnings and $5.2 billion in revenue.

MOT shares where down 5 cents at $7.63 in pre-market trading minutes before the opening bell in New York Thursday.

Motorola sold 200,000 fewer cell phones in the second quarter compared to the prior period, or 8.3 million units.  But its higher-cost Smart Phone sales rose to 2.7 million, compared to 2.3 million in the first quarter.

Motorla's smart phones, which use Google, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android software, turned out to be a safe bet rather than a gamble in today's booming smart phone marketplace which is dominated by Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhones.   During the same period, Apple sold 8.4 million iPhones and still is the market leader, though Motorola is fast becoming a contender in the smart phone market and investors may be wise to latch onto MOT shares ahead of the planned spin off of its cell phone unit.

Motorola already set about selling its networks equipment business to Nokia Siemens Networks for $1.2 billion, which is slated to close by the end of this year.  The company will then be left with its bar code scanners and radio business units which will be rebranded as Motorola Solutions.

AAPL shares where up 98 cents at $261.94 in pre-market trading.  GOOG shares rose $2.10 to $486.45 alongside AAPL and MOT.