motorola

Motorola already working on a Windows Phone 7 handset?

October 7, 2010 | By Surur

motoback

Now regular readers will know we love a good rumour, and also love nothing better that starting one. We have heard recently that Motorola is open to using Windows Phone 7, and Microsoft would love nothing better to accommodate them.

Now we have some (shaky) evidence Motorola may have already agreed to build a Windows Phone 7 handset.

Microsoft have posted two job adverts for Software Test Engineers to work with what appears to be a US-based OEM for Windows Phone.

Now of course there are precious few US-based OEMs (we only count Motorola and Apple) and I don’t think Apple will be converting from IOS any time soon.

Additionally the ad speaks about traveling to San Francisco and Chicago, with Motorola’s headquarters conveniently in Schaumburg, a few miles from Chicago, and with Motorola also having important offices in Sunnyvale, close to San Francisco, we feel pretty convinced.

Could Microsoft’s patent law suit have convinced Motorola so quickly? See the full ad after the break, and let us know if you are convinced below.

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Microsoft open to Motorola also

October 7, 2010 | By Surur

motoandwp We heard yesterday from Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha that Motorola was open to using Windows Phone 7 on one of their handsets. It turns out the feeling is mutual, with Steve Ballmer saying they were “excited to come into agreement with any company that is willing to collaborate with them as well.”

The Microsoft CEO made the comment at a Press Conference staged by BitKOM, a German industry group, after being asked directly if they were willing to form ties with Motorola.

While the statement could be interpreted as Microsoft being willing to take any comers, we do know Microsoft has said in the past they will be more selective about Windows Phone 7 OEMs, and that Jha had also planned to use Windows Phone 7 in the past, but was forced to use Android due to Microsoft delays.

Do we smell love in the air?

Via Techd.in

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Motorola open to working with Microsoft, promptly sues Apple

October 6, 2010 | By Surur

eoe In a surprise turn around, Motorola has responded to being sued by Microsoft by countersuing…. Apple.

Motorola’s CEO today told Wall Street Journal that “lawsuits are part of the business” and the company was still "open to finding ways to work with Microsoft," but "it has to be a compelling offering."

Noting that Motorola would rather have done without the lawsuit, he however insisted with 20,000 to 40,000 patents "our intellectual property position is better than most," and “everyone has a responsibility to their IP holders”.

These statements normally precede a countersuit, but the target was rather unexpected.

Motorola today files suit against Apple for infringing 18 patents with its iPhone, iPad, iTouch and some of its computers.

The patents involved cover a variety of technologies, including Apple’s MobileMe service and its software application store, wireless email, proximity sensing, application management, location-based services and technology for synchronizing multiple devices.

They also complained to the ITC, asking to bar US imports of Apple products.

While this may just be the first volley of a series of lawsuits from Motorola their initial target is really interesting, and may be preceding a cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft.

Read more at Wall Street Journal and Yahoo here.

5

Microsoft sues Android

October 1, 2010 | By Surur

Microsoft has long claimed some intellectual property when it comes to open source operating systems, and at the time many advocates have asked the company to put up or shut up.

It seems Microsoft has finally decided to do just that, taking Motorola to court for alleged patent infringements in “synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.”

Microsoft long maintained Android is not really free, and has so far been able to claim payments for using the OS from HTC. It seems Motorola has not been as amenable to persuasion.

See Microsoft’s press release after the break.

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Coming Up: HTC Touch HD2 VS Motorola Droid X

September 5, 2010 | By WenWP

If you read my previous article on the death of innovation in mobile technology, you will notice I spoke of the Droid X as being a copy of the HD2 (or Evo4G, depending how you look at it). Well it seems the copy is finally in my hands and ready to be put against the original. In this upcoming comparisons we I will touch on many aspects of the devices and make sure to be as fair and unbiased as I can be (which I always am). The HD2 has been able to keep its cool next to all these new wave of devices and from what I have experienced so far with the Droid X, this is going to be an easy VS.

Follow me on Twitter @wmperson for my random tweets about the Droid X and my HD2, otherwise lookout for the article that should be coming soon. I will even have a Droid 2 vs LG WP7 prototype (maybe, if not then TP2), if you guys are interest, that could be available sometime soon.

Keep reading WMPU for this and more. And keep in mind “the sequel is never as good as the original”.

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HTC eating into RIM, Motorola’s market share, scaring Apple

May 12, 2010 | By Surur

Piper Jaffray analyst T. Michael Walkley claims that HTC is making gigantic inroads into the US market, and has become the preferred OEM not just for Windows Mobile handsets, but Android also.

“We believe consumers overwhelmingly selected HTC based Android and Windows Mobile based devices due to its customizable UI, processing power with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 1 GHz processor and sleek designs,” he noted.

According to Walkley, Verizon’s sales folks are pushing Android products such as the HTC Incredible and Motorola Droid over the BlackBerry.

“We believe the Bold 9700 continued to lose smartphone share at AT&T following a price increase last month to $199. Further, our checks indicated further share losses to Android products at T-Mobile and Verizon,” said Walkley.

“Our April and early May checks indicated strong North America share gains for HTC with strong initial sales of the HTC Incredible at Verizon, combined with solid sales of the HTC Hero at Sprint and HTC HD2 and My Touch 3G at T-Mobile.”

Nice to see our friend, the HTC HD2, which has persistently been in short supply, is also helping to bolster HTC sales in USA. HTC’s success and increasingly strong brand name is likely to be one of the major reasons the company has drawn the ire, and subsequent law suites from Apple. Hopefully the action will not distract the company from continuing performance in the future.

Microsoft Bing replaces Google on Motorola Android devices – Android business case dealt a blow

March 11, 2010 | By Surur

Motorola, today announced a global alliance with Microsoft Corp to deploy Bing services on Motorola devices powered by Android. This new offering, launching in China on smartphones in Q1, will provide consumers a choice when using search and map functions on their Android-based devices.

The collaboration with bring a pre-loaded Bing bookmark and a search widget.

"We believe that consumer choice is one of the most critical components to ensuring a rich and seamless client experience," said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services, Motorola Mobile Devices. "Motorola and Microsoft have enjoyed a longstanding collaboration and the addition of Bing services to our Android-based smartphones in China is another important step in empowering our end-users."

"Mobile devices continue to be a critical place for customers to access location-based services such as local search and mapping," said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of the Online Services Division at Microsoft. "We are pleased to expand our long-standing relationship with Motorola to bring powerful Bing location-based services to Motorola’s innovative new mobile devices, providing consumers with more choice and flexibility in mobile search."

The collaboration will start with Motorola Android handsets in China, where Google is having issues with the Chinese Government, but is likely set to spread to many other countries. The move undermines Google’s business model, where the Android operating system was being given away for free to funnel search and website ad clicks to their services.

Some also speculate that this may indicate a warming up of relationships towards Microsoft’s mobile operating system offerings by Motorola, increasing the possibility of a Windows Phone 7 handset from the company next year.

Via Engadget.com

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Kopin Golden-i head-mounted computer uses Windows CE 6

February 23, 2010 | By Surur

Shown of a Mobile World Congress this head-mounted computer with its voice-controlled user interface uses Windows CE 6.0 on an ARM Cortex A8 processor and is intended for industrial use, but I can easily imagine freaking out everyone on the plane by pulling this out this unit in business class.

The full specs are:

CyberDisplay® SVGA microdisplay

32-bit native, componentized, Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 operating system

Texas Instruments’ (TI) OMAP dual processor – 600 MHz ARM Cortex 8, 400MHz DSP

Micron Technologies high-performance memories packaged in advanced stackable Package on Package (POP) packaging for TI OMAP devices

Nuance’s VoCon3200 speech recognition software

Hillcrest Labs 6-axis, solid state real-time position tracker.

Mini-USB port and a removable Micro SD card slot capable of supporting up to 32GB on non-volatile solid state RAM.

Single 1200 mA/hr Li-ion battery

Motorola distancing itself from Android, considering Windows Phone again

February 20, 2010 | By Surur

Microsoft: Just so you know. With us, it’s never off the table.
Motorola: (After Microsoft left) Damn it, it’s never off the table!

The on-again, off again relationship between Microsoft and Motorola took another twist with Motorola’s boss Sanjay Jha making the surprise statement that the company was looking for diversity in its smartphone portfolio.

"I’m open to it," Mr. Jha said. "I think I need diversity in our portfolio."

The “it” Jha was talking about is releasing new devices using Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 series OS.

This is quite a divergence from a statement made by a Motorola spokesperson at Mobile World Congress which reads:

"We value our long-standing relationship with Microsoft across Motorola and look forward to their next generation of Windows Mobile platform software for potential integration on future mobile devices. As we have continued to focus our investment on differentiated end-user experiences, that investment at this point remains largely focused on Android."

Motorola pointedly did not appear on the list of Microsoft partners releasing Windows Phone 7 products.

So, with Motorola and Microsoft on a break, will they eventually live happily ever after? Let us know your opinion below.

Source: BusinessInsider, Phonescoop, Gizmodo, Wallstreet Journal.

Thanks MobilePaddy for the tip.

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Despite Windows Mobile 7, Motorola is planning no WM smartphones in 2010

January 20, 2010 | By Surur

Motorola and Windows Mobile has had a stormy on again, off again relationship in the last 12 months, but until now we had all believed Windows Mobile 7, like a baby had just to prevent a divorce, would fix everything.

Unfortunately it appears that was overly optimistic. CNET Asia spoke to Spiros Nikolakopoulos, vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific and International Distribution for Motorola’s Mobile Devices business, to find out more about the company’s plans.

When asked about the smartphones Motorola intended to release in 2010, Spiros said:

“There will be between 20 and 30 smartphones globally and, at this moment, all of them will run Android. Naturally, not all will be available everywhere as it depends on the company’s partnership with the various telco operators in each country. For non-smartphone models, they will run either Brew or the Motorola’s own operating system.”

With Windows Mobile 7 handsets strongly expected to arrive this year, it appears clear Motorola will not be a launch partner, and after having placed all bets on Android, may never make a Windows Mobile handset again.

Of course the company is only aiming for 5% of the global handset market, and clearly see a role of complete irrelevance for itself soon.

Good luck Motorola.

Motorola ES400 – Motorola not completely out of the Windows Mobile game yet?

January 8, 2010 | By Surur

PhoneArena has been tipped off to Sprint’s upcoming 2010 playbook, and it includes a rather intriguing Motorola device – the ES400.

PhoneArena claims the device apparently runs Windows Mobile, and given that Motorola has disavowed Windows Mobile until 7, the smartphone could very well be running Windows Mobile 7.

Do any of our readers know more? Let us know in the comments below.

Via Mobiletechworld.com

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More Windows Mobile 7 news leaked via LinkedIn – Motorola still in the game

December 1, 2009 | By Surur

WMConcept MSFTKitchen have made their regular trawl of LinkIn profiles for Windows Mobile 7 and has revealed piles of goodies.

First is that, while Motorola has not done a consumer Windows Mobile handset for a while, the company is still very busy working on Windows Mobile 7 and the software associated with it.

The post confirms new UI controls in WM7, DirectShow components, the extensive use of Silverlight in built-in apps such as Bing and MSN, a new IE7 browser for Windows Mobile, a new Media Transfer Protocol for WM7, the presence of USB OTG, a game user experience focus, work on a soft keyboard and Microsoft’s launch plans, which includes a Windows Mobile 7 Sharepoint website.

All the job postings taken together indicate Windows Mobile 7 will be quite a tour de force and far from a small update, addressing most consumer issues such as browsing, gaming and media access, and that earlier rumours of user interface development using Silverlight are real.

See all the individual posts at MSFTKitchen here.

Thanks wreiad for the tip.

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Fedex to roll out 100 000 rugged Windows Mobile handsets

September 24, 2009 | By Surur

While Windows Mobile is facing challenges in the consumer market, there is still one area where it is completely dominant – industrial rugged devices. Fedex plans to roll out up to 100,000 of Motorola Inc.’s new MC9500 rugged mobile handhelds in the next two to three years, for use by its Fedex couriers and workers in package warehouses.

The MC9500 will offer features Fedex some unique features, including the ability to swap out radios to work with different wireless carriers as needed, or the ability to swap out four different keypads, depending on use, so that the keypad can offer more numeric or more alphabetic functions as needed, Fedex representatives said. FedEx currently uses a custom-made device from Motorola, commonly referred to as the PowerPad.

"This is a high-end device, and has everything but the kitchen sink," said Matthew Berardi, managing director of field technology for FedEx Ground.

The MC9500 comes in four versions, priced from $2,495 to $3,295.

Berardi said the GPS will be valuable for tracking vehicles and drivers, offering even better real-time package tracking for customers. And the MC9500′s ability to work on faster 3.5G networks — including HSDPA and EVDO Rev. A — and greater efficiencies with scanning and data capture could allow for faster deliveries.

The device will also offer improve functionality for customers, such as an accelerometer in the MC9500 that allows a delivery driver to hold the device in any direction to capture a signature.

The MC9500 should perform well in the market, said David Krebs, a wireless analyst at VDC Research in Natick, Mass. He said part of the reason is that it builds on the success of the Motorola MC9000, which is the industry’s best-selling rugged handheld, with 1.5 million units shipped. The new MC9500 is lighter and more ergonomic, and will have power management features that are unique in the market. (The device turns off when it’s placed face down, for example.)

Growth in rugged device industry is robust, despite the sour economy, he said. Krebs estimated that 300 million workers globally will be equipped with rugged devices by 2012, more than double current levels.

Motorola currently has about 40% of the total market for rugged handhelds; Intermec follows with less than 20%; and Psion and LXE each have less than 10%.