Fortune is reporting that after a fourth-month search, Motorola is in late-stage talks with a few candidates about running its troubled cell phone division, according to a person close to the process.

This comes as the company's handset market share is in freefall, largely due to the lack of a competitive product line-up, or at least a home-run product or two in the vein of its last hit, the 2004 RAZR.

"First on the to-do list of the new head of the handset division: Visit all the carriers, and mend relationships with their execs," the article said. "The last few years were filled with so many broken promises that top executives at the carriers privately say they feel burned."

"No phone maker has ever had problems as deep as this," said Citibank analyst Jim Suva in the article. "The bet now is whether Motorola's mobile business will completely go away or not."