Announcing the Motorola LOZR

The ongoing collapse of Motorola’s post-Razr phone business is not due to a failure of innovation and leadership. Nor is it the result of a string of management, marketing and product blunders. No. Motorola’s decline isn’t Motorola’s (MOT) fault at all. It’s Apple’s (AAPL). Specifically, it’s the fault of Michael Fenger, Apple’s VP of global iPhone sales. Fenger once oversaw Motorola’s mobile-device business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa–until this past March when he jumped ship for Cupertino, allegedly taking a bunch of Motorola’s trade secrets with him.

On Friday Motorola sued Fenger, accusing him of divulging its operating strategies, marketing initiatives and whatnot to further the success of Apple’s new iPhone mobile platform. “[Fenger] was privy to the pricing, margins, customer initiatives, allocation of resources, product development, multi-year product, business and talent planning and strategies being used by Motorola,” the mobile-phone maker alleged in its complaint. It fears he handed that information over to Apple. And presumably, that’s the reason Motorola hasn’t been making phones that people want to buy.

Anyway, in addition to damages, Motorola seeks a court order barring Fenger from working at Apple. The company also hopes to recoup more than $1 million for Fenger’s alleged violation of stock-option agreements. And, perhaps, even the market share it has ceded to rivals in the past few years.