NEW YORK—On the heels of a disappointing performance in the second quarter, Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to add Motorola Inc.’s Q and Slvr handsets to its portfolio in the critical fourth quarter to attract and retain subscribers and boost earnings, Sprint Nextel’s Chief Operating Officer Len Lauer told investors this morning during a conference call on the company’s earnings.
The network operator has been the only nationwide carrier without handsets from Motorola’s recent lineup. The products have generated a significant amount of buzz and profits for the handset vendor. Although Sprint Nextel sells Motorola’s iDEN handsets, its lack of newer CDMA phones, including the Razr, was cited by some analysts as a factor in Sprint Nextel’s poor financial results.
