Motorola, the No.2 mobile phone maker after Nokia, unveiled a slimmer Razr phone on Tuesday as well as more 3G products with Linux, Java and multimedia. The company announced mobile movie partnerships with Universal Pictures, Sony and Warner Brothers. Universal Pictures is a unit of NBC Universal, controlled by General Electric.
Motorola’s new Z8 phone, which will be launched in Europe and Asia in June, will be able to play full-motion movies and a removable storage card that could hold as many as 12 full-length movies. It will come preloaded the Bourne Identity.
Inside the new V9 and V9m are a 2-megapixel camera, a Linux platform, full Bluetooth, a MiroSD card slot, 3G support, video conferencing, a full HTML browser, Windows Media Player 11 with PC syncing, a 500Mhz processor, USB 2.0 and “CrystalTalk” voice technology that will adjust the volume automatically based on ambient noise.
Motorola, whose shares have lost about a third of their value since mid-October amid weak sales of its phones, had been criticized for a lack of advanced phones and a compelling follow-up to its slim Razr. Motorola said it is moving away from depending on the success of one phone and would focus more on how it delivers applications like video and music.
Motorola announced three new HSDPA phones, including a version of its Q smartphone, the Q9 and a version of the Razr2, even thinner than its previous Razr. Razr2 will come in three versions with the V9 supporting HSDPA (Cingular in the U.S.), and the V9m supporting EVDO (Verizon and Sprint).
Motorola also said it expects to sell its 100 millionth Razr in a matter of weeks.
“They don’t have an answer to Nokia’s N series, never mind the iPhone,” said Avi Greengart of Current Analysis, who was worried that the new phones would not help Motorola compete against bigger rival Nokia
A GSM version of the Razr2 will be available in early July in Asia. The Z8 will be available in Europe and Asia beginning in June. The Q9 will be available in Italy this week and is expected to launch in other parts of the world in coming months, Motorola said.
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