After a silence which has almost done for the company, Motorola is on the verge of making a comeback with its long awaited (too long some would say) Android handsets. Deals this week were leaked to US newspapers with both Verizon and T-Mobile.
The T-Mobile deal is impressive in that it already has two Android devices and more on the way from HTC and would have been under no pressure to tie itself further to Android, unless the devices were worth having.
Most mock-up images seen on the web have shown what are probably guesses at the devices for these operators as a touch screen, with a full sideways slide out keyboard ‘ similar in style to other Androids and the new Nokia N97.
Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA are said to be launching them before the end of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The phones are understood to be mid-range devices, and our feeling is that if they were simply me-too devices, T-Mobile would not be in the frame. If the devices are even close to being exciting phones when announced, US investors will completely change their view of the almost moribund Motorola handset division.
Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha bet the shop on Android, but gave a disappointing timescale for the phones to emerge and has said that multiple carriers in multiple regions would be carrying the phones. So far he’s not been proved wrong.