SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-In a move that could help it retain a core piece of business, Motorola Inc. is developing handsets for Sprint Nextel Corp. designed to work on both the carriers iDEN network that Motorola created for Nextel Communications Inc. in the 1990s as well as the carriers CDMA network.
Motorola expects the first dual-mode iDEN/CDMA phone to go to market by fall, with the second available by year end, a spokesman said.
The move signals that Sprint Nextel, will likely remain a large customer after its supply agreement with Motorola expires in 2007. Sprint Nextel’s iDEN walkie-talkie phones accounted for 13 percent of the handsets Motorola sold last year.-Julie Johnsson
Julie Johnsson is a reporter with Crain’s Chicago Business, a sister publication of RCR Wireless News. Both publications are owned by Crain Communications Inc.
