14 DAY TRIAL // Motorola announced yesterday its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2008, as well as the earnings for the entire last year in a conference call in which it also unveiled some interesting details regarding its future plans with Windows Mobile and Android mobile platforms.
While the company confirmed the fact that its mobile division was going from bad to worse and that it was losing big money, one of the most interesting things that popped up concerns was the future release of Microsoft's mobile operating system. According to CEO Sanjay Jha, we should be able to see Windows Mobile 7 released in 2010, while this year the mobile phone maker will focus more on Android.
“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,” Sanjay Jha stated.
As many of you already know, Microsoft is expected to unveil its newest platform for handsets, namely the Windows Mobile 6.5, in the middle of February, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. At the same time, the Redmond software giant has announced the existence of Windows 7, but hasn't confirmed a launch of the OS next year.
Motorola's CEO stated that the company planned to release fewer handsets this year, but that they were expected to come as high-end devices. At the same time, he also announced that we'd see Android-powered phones launched in 2009.
“As we move forward in 2009, our platform decisions and market focus will result in fewer new product launches than in the past year. We will be much more focused on mid and high tiers. This allows us to narrow our portfolio and focus on delivering more devices with compelling user experiences,” he stated. “Our Smartphone road map includes a variety of devices, many based on the Android operating system. Android is a flexible operating environment and has attracted thousands of developers with it as we believe we can enable differentiated user experience.”
Interestingly enough, Motorola hasn't yet announced any Android phones, and it might not unveil any at the MWC show either. One thing is for sure though, we'll see Windows Mobile-powered handsets coming from Moto this year, although the company was rumored to be planning on letting the platform go.