14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile phone maker Motorola is hard at work with the development of new handsets that would run under Google's Android operating system, with some of them already leaking into the wild. When wrapping up the ongoing year, the company might have on display 20 new Android-based devices, which should be present on the market in most regions around the globe, it seems.
Among the handsets that Motorola aims at pushing to the market, one might count some with full QWERTY keyboards, not to mention a nice range of phones that would sport the company's MOTOBLUR solution. According to a recent article on slashgear, these plans were unveiled by none other than Tom Satchwell, director of marketing for Motorola’s mobile devices business.
Ever since last year, Motorola was expected to show a great focus on delivering mobile phones that would run under Google's Android operating system, and Satchwell's sayings are further confirmation of that. This does not exclude the possibility that other devices will also be launched on the market, but does show that most upcoming phones from Motorola should be powered by Android.
Android was seen by analysts as Motorola's means of staying alive, yet it seems that the mobile phone maker could do better, if it weren't for the distribution model it adopted. Not all of its Android handsets were launched via carriers, nor in all markets, and that hurt sales, Satchwell seems to believe. Having the handsets available in a wider range of markets might have proved great for the company.
One example in this direction is the Motorola MILESTONE, the European version of Motorola DROID. Being launched through distributors rather than carriers, the device enjoys a lower consumer attention, and its performance wasn't that great in the end. The new MILESTONE XT720 might have the same fate, since the company hasn't unveiled carrier deals until now. However, it still remains to be seen what the handset vendor has in store in this area, as well as what new devices it plans on bringing to shelves in 2010.