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Motorola: 'Android more competitive than Windows Mobile'

But expects to be back behind WinMo in 2010

Motorola: 'Android more competitive than Windows Mobile'
Motorola (NYQ: MOT) has scotched rumours that it's planning to dump Windows Mobile in favour of Android, but its views won't make easy reading for Microsoft.

Here's what CEP Sanjay Jha said in a conference call yesterday after the company's Q4 results:

 

"Yes, we are still committed to Windows Mobile. As you know, Windows 6 series is available in 2009 and as compared to Android, we believe in 2009 Android is more competitive; more of our effort and focus in 2009 is going to Android, but in 2010 when Windows 7 will become available, we will then participate in a more focused way in Windows Mobile 7 in 2010."


Jha also said services and apps will be a key part of Motorola's Android activities.

"We will deliver some compelling applications and user experiences which are not core part of Android solutions," he said.

"For instance, social networking is an important area that we have spent significant amount of resources in making sure that we can deliver a key differentiated and much more highly integrated social networking experience. There are a number of other areas that we are similarly working on to differentiate in this way."

Could gaming be one of them? Watch this space. Motorola certainly needs a boost from Android this year, given its woeful Q4 results.

The company's mobile handset division saw revenues fall 51 per cent year-on-year to $2.35 billion in Q4, reporting an operating loss of $595 million.

Moto says it shipped 19.2 million handsets during the quarter, giving it a global market share of 6.5 per cent. Although the economy was duly blamed, Motorola also fessed up to "gaps in its portfolio". 
Contributing Editor

Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)