Motorola Inc. showed off a new lineup of phones in an effort to follow through on promises of bolstering its phone efforts. The announcement comes after the company failed to ship several key handsets in the critical holiday shopping season. Motorola made its announcement in conjunction with art photographers in Poland, who displayed pictures taken on Motorola camera phones. First, Motorola introduced its new V80 camera phone, which features a rotating cover and integrated Bluetooth capabilities. The company also introduced the V220 camera phone with GSM tri-band technology and the V180 with MP3 ring tones, downloadable games and a color screen. The company also introduced a limited edition V600 and a Bluetooth headset.
Separately, Motorola signed a deal with Internet browser company Opera Software to combine its WAP browser with Opera’s HTML browser for sale to carriers and handset providers.
“We are set to propel mobile browsing into the full Internet,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Opera’s chief executive officer. “Today’s agreement allows Opera to let operators and handset manufacturers gain revenue from past investments in WAP technology while embracing the numerous possibilities in what is new to mobile browsing.”
Not to be left out, Siemens announced it plans to show off several new phones at the upcoming CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany in March. The company said it would show off a rugged outdoor model and several lower-end multimedia messaging phones.
Finally, LG Electronics Co. Ltd. announced its fourth-quarter results, showing increasing handset sales but a decline in profit due to delays in new handset models for the South Korean market. The company reported $1.4 billion in handset sales for the quarter, and said it plans to grow its European GSM and W-CDMA business this year. The company said it hopes to increase handset sales from 27.5 million last year to 36 million this year.
