CHICAGO-Motorola Inc. released a new high-end Microsoft Windows mobile device targeted squarely at the BlackBerry and Treo enterprise market at the outset of its analyst conference here, but there was no sign of its long-awaited iTunes phone.
Motorola demonstrated a range of new products at the opening of the conference, but reserved center stage for its new Q smart-phone device. The device, featuring the slim styling of the company’s popular Razr phone, includes a tiny, Qwerty keyboard, Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera and Microsoft Inc.’s Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.
It is scheduled to be available in the first quarter of next year.
Information and pictures of the device previously have been posted on various Web sites, but Motorola used its analyst conference to formerly announce the gadget. The device will run up against Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry device and Palm Inc.’s Treo smart phone in the enterprise market. The Treo runs the Palm OS, and the BlackBerry runs RIM’s Java-based OS.
Although Motorola executives trumpeted the Q, Chief Executive Ed Zander acknowledged the continued absence of the company’s forthcoming iTunes device. “It’s real, and it’s happening,” Zander said of the device.
Motorola, along with Apple and unnamed wireless carriers, announced the device likely will be available sometime in the next two months. Zander said the device warranted its own event.
Motorola announced a partnership last year with Apple to make an iTunes phone.
Motorola also announced a slew of news related to its other businesses. Among the announcements:
- Alltel Corp. plans to roll out Motorola’s CDMA 1x EV-DO solution later this year.
- Motorola teamed with Yahoo! to enable easier access to Yahoo! services via Motorola Linux-based mobile devices and broadband devices for the connected home. In addition, the companies plan to work together to ease access to Yahoo! services via Motorola’s iRadio solution for vehicles in 2006.
- The company also finished a third-generation trial with Spanish broadcaster Radio Televisio Valenciana-RTVV that allowed broadcasters to seamlessly transmit real-time video directly from the field to the TV screen. A crucial part of the trial was a server that allowed six simultaneous video streams to be received at the broadcast station, recording all of them and converting the chosen one into the master TV signal.
- Smart Communications in the Philippines signed a multimillion-dollar deal to use Motorola’s Canopy platform to deliver broadband services. It is Motorola’s largest Canopy equipment contract to date. In addition, Motorola showed its new Motor Wi4 product portfolio of WiMAX solutions.
- The handset vendor unveiled three new phones designed for the mobile office. The A910 features Wi-Fi connectivity and a Linux platform. The A728 also is based on Linux, The A732 features finger-writing recognition, designed to aid people writing in Chinese and Roman characters to send what they wrote like text messages.
- The company is working with Cisco Systems Inc. to offer a solution that blends key features of the dual-mode cellular and Wi-Fi enterprise technologies. Specifically, the companies will sell a single mobile device aimed at enterprise subscribers using 802.11 technology inside the enterprise and cellular telephone use elsewhere. The solution is an expansion to Cisco’s CallManager IP-based communications system.
- Motorola inked a deal with Vonage Holdings Corp. to sell a Motorola VT2442 Voice over Internet Protocol gateway with home-networking features, designed to make it easier to add broadband service to a home network.
- Motorola Electronics Sdn Bhd, its Malaysian subsidiary, won a contract to optimize the existing 2.5 generation and 3G networks of Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd. Once the solution is deployed, Maxis data users will enjoy faster Web browsing and speedier downloads than currently available. Maxis counts 6.5 million customers on its GSM/GPRS networks.