14 DAY TRIAL // Las week Motorola was reported to be planning on cutting almost half of the jobs in its handset department. At the same time, the company was said to be considering ditching the Windows Mobile operating system in favor of Google's Android platform, yet it seems that it has recently denied such a move.
The company will still work with Microsoft's environment for its future smartphones, whereas as regards its handset division, it “remains 100 percent committed to Windows Mobile,” Brian Viscount, Motorola's vice president of marketing for Mobile Enterprise Computing, is reported to have said in an interview with ComputerWorld.
The company released good Windows Mobile-based devices in the past, such as the Motorola Q and the Q9, although they couldn't make the sales charts blow up. Nevertheless, there might be some users who would see today's story as good news, since the WinMo-based handsets from Motorola will continue to exist.
In related news, we learn that the mobile phone maker has recently opened a new office in Seattle, which would allow it to work closely with the Windows Mobile Team. Undoubtedly, the company is rather preparing to tighten the relations with Microsoft than pushing its platform away.
The fact that Motorola drastically reduced the number of its employees was considered to be the result of the company's products seeing rather low traction on the market, as well as of the financial difficulties the maker has been and is still experiencing. The reports pointed towards the fact that Motorola would plan on releasing on the market only a dozen new handsets every year.
It remains to be seen how many devices the mobile phone maker will launch in the future, as well as which operating system it will opt for. We'll keep you updated as soon as more details emerge, so stay tuned.