Motorola Planning New Smartphones And Tablet
On Wednesday, Motorola co-chief Sanjay Jha said the company is planning on new smartphones and a tablet computer running Google’s Android software in the future.
Jha said at a Deutsche Bank Technology Conference in San Francisco that Motorola would have an Android-based tablet ready by early 2011.
"I will only develop a tablet if it is sufficiently compelling," Jha said during an on-stage chat. "Hopefully, that is early next year."
He said that he has been counting on smartphones running Android in order to help turn around the company, but did not consider the most recent generation of mobile software ready for use in tablets.
"I see the tablet market as an opportunity; no cannibalization with smartphones," Jha told the conference. "iPad is more an extension of iPhone than a migration of a Macintosh. I think that is a natural expansion for us."
Apple has sold millions of iPad tablets since the launch of the device in April.
"The convergence of mobility and computing is very important for us," Jha said. "There could be more form factors that are more smartphone-centric."
Part of the priority in the Android "eco-system" is to improve the online marketplace for fun or functional applications.
"The Marketplace experience on Android is good, it is not great," Jha said. "We are trying to rectify that situation. You will see us as an ecosystem very focused on that."
He also said he hopes for a more powerful multi-core computer chip to be built into smartphones to help boost capabilities, speed and features.
Motorola makes set-top boxes for popular cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner, and Jha said that the company is "eager to participate" in an Internet-driven evolution of home entertainment that could involve routing digital content from smartphones to televisions.
"You’ve seen Google TV and Apple TV in that space," he said. "I think there are some very good opportunities there."
Motorola posted a six-fold increase in quarterly net profit for July, and is optimistic about the outlook for its mobile phone division next year.
Jha said demand was growing for the "Droid X," which is an Android-based smartphone that competes with Apple’s iPhone.
The company is selling most of its wireless network infrastructure business to Nokia Siemens Networks for $1.2 billion.
Motorola is planning to split its business in the first quarter of next year, separating products for consumers from its professional equipment division.
Its mobile and home entertainment division will operate as Motorola Mobility, while its mobility solutions and networks business will operate as Motorola Solutions.
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