Now this from Fortune’s Stephanie Mehta:

Don’t cry for Padmasree Warrior. Motorola’s (MOT) former chief technology officer already has a new gig: Cisco (CSCO) today announced she’s becoming its CTO. 
 
Warrior, 47, is a skilled speaker and presenter (and, some would argue, a tireless self-promoter). That makes her a great fit for Cisco, where marketing savvy is a valued trait.
 
And indeed, Cisco CEO John Chambers in a news release said Warrior “will help to develop and promote Cisco’s future technology leadership.”
 
We caught up with Warrior for a few moments today. She was mum on when she and Chambers started talking about her move to Cisco, citing confidentiality, except to say she resigned from Motorola Friday afternoon. (Motorola disclosed her departure Monday.)
 
She said she was drawn to Cisco because, as she says, the company is “at the heart of the second phase of the Internet revolution” and its new wave of networks built around collaboration. It probably doesn’t hurt that Cisco seems to be on solid footing these days, with strong growth prospects and a market capitalization hovering around $164 billion (See Rik Kirkland’s “Cisco’s display of strength“). Warrior’s old employer, meanwhile, isn’t doing quite so well. Her former boss Ed Zander just resigned as CEO, and Motorola’s market value is a tepid $36 billion.

Activist investor Carl Icahn continues to have a way with words. Just hours after Motorola (MOT) changed its CEO — a move Icahn had previously advocated — Icahn issued a press statement Friday afternoon sketching out what he believes needs to happen next at the struggling wireless company.

Getting straight to the point, Icahn’s release — titled “Icahn Reacts to Replacement of Zander” — calls for a four-way split of the company and argues that a mere executive-suite shuffle “does not even begin to address the major problems at Motorola.” And while he believes the board’s action was “long past due” and that Zander was never  the right man for the CEO job, Icahn hastens to soften the blow by adding, “I like Ed Zander personally.”

 No word yet on whether the feeling is mutual.

Motorola (MOT) shares rose early Friday on news that CEO Ed Zander is finally on his way out. His departure follows a year of management shakeups and hefty losses in the company’s once-hot handset business, which has foundered since the Razr craze lost its edge last year. Investors including Carl Icahn have been calling for Zander’s head throughout 2007, as Motorola stock lost more than 20% of its value amid market share losses to rival Nokia (NOK).

Joan Lappin, an investor at Gramercy Capital and a Zander critic who sold her Motorola shares last year, told Fortune earlier this month that she knew Zander had lost his grip in January, when he rode into a press briefing at a tech conference on a yellow bicycle. Seeing Zander lead a once-strong company into the wilderness, she said, made her feel “sick in the heart.”

As happy as some people are to see Zander leave, Motorola stock gave up much of its early gains and was up just 1% heading toward midday. Citi analyst Jim Suva notes that while Motorola didn’t comment on how its fourth quarter is going, he finds himself wondering “if today’s announcement signals yet another disappointment for the handset segment and more meaningful changes that have to occur.”

That said, the official word from Motorola isn’t that Zander is leaving because of investor discontent. No sir. He’s just eager to get on with the rest of his life. “Next year marks my 40th year in the technology industry,” he said in Motorola’s press release. “This is the right time for me to move on to the next phase in my life and spend more time with my family.”

Replacing Zander as CEO will be Motorola’s president and operating chief, Greg Brown. He took those roles this past spring after the depth of Motorola’s handset swoon became evident. Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky notes that Greg Brown is the younger brother of Dick Brown, who was CEO at Cable & Wireless in the U.K. before he landed in 1999 at EDS (EDS). 

Dick Brown was profiled by Carol Loomis in Fortune back in February 2003, after his turnaround plan at the outsourcing firm unraveled under the weight of a massive earnings shortfall. Dick Brown would leave EDS the next month, but in the meantime the problems gave him ample opportunity to pursue what he called “coaching moments” with other staffers. It’s a good bet his younger brother will be having a few of those at Motorola in coming months, too.