Red Bend racks up Moto as OTA customer

Motorola Inc. announced it will use technology from Red Bend Software in its phones in order to remotely update the software in the devices. Red Bend’s software will be available in “select” Motorola phones starting later this year.
“Great software is just as important as great design-and keeping consumers up-to-date with new, enhanced features and the latest carrier services is vital to enabling a seamless mobile user experience,” Motorola executive Jim Eckels said.
Motorola is among a growing number of handset vendors that offer software updates to their products. Palm Inc., Nokia Inc. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. also offer such services to their customers, sometimes via a hookup with a desktop computer and sometimes wirelessly.
Indeed, the software-updating craze is also being embraced by wireless carriers keen to make the process simpler, and to cut down on traffic in their stores. Already in the United States Sprint Nextel Corp. offers an over-the-air software updating service that allows subscribers to wirelessly update their phone’s software.
“Firmware over-the-air offers unique personalization options for consumers and numerous business benefits and revenue opportunities for operators-we’re pleased to work with Motorola to drive industry adoption of these services forward,” Red Bend CEO Yoram Salinger said.
The first Red Bend-enabled handsets are scheduled to be distributed by Motorola later this year.
Motorola joins LG Electronics Co. Ltd., Sony Ericsson and others in using Red Bend’s OTA software.