Motorola, the iconic mobile phone company once known for flashy hardware, is pinning its comeback hopes on the quality of its software.
Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha wouldn't go as far to say that Motorola is unconcerned with hardware these days, hours after unveiling the forthcoming Motorola Cliq at Mobilize 2009, but the balance has clearly changed with the introduction of Motoblur, a layer of software that sits above the Android operating system and will coordinate incoming messages and news feeds on future Motorola handsets.
"Motoblur is going to become very important to Motorola," Jha said. It's actually more than just software--Motorola is also essentially hosting an online service that will deliver Facebook updates and RSS feeds to individual phones--but it's emblematic of the shift towards software and the Internet as the main features in a modern mobile phone.
Unfortunately for Motorola, that era began more than two years ago with the launch of the iPhone, and the company has been struggling ever since. In the pre-iPhone era, Motorola was a hit with sleek phones like the Razr that turned heads, but after people started to realize what they could do with sophisticated phone software constantly connected to the Internet, the Razr became an afterthought. Motorola has struggled ever since, seriously considering getting out of the phone business altogether.
More: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10350204-94.html
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Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha wouldn't go as far to say that Motorola is unconcerned with hardware these days, hours after unveiling the forthcoming Motorola Cliq at Mobilize 2009, but the balance has clearly changed with the introduction of Motoblur, a layer of software that sits above the Android operating system and will coordinate incoming messages and news feeds on future Motorola handsets.
"Motoblur is going to become very important to Motorola," Jha said. It's actually more than just software--Motorola is also essentially hosting an online service that will deliver Facebook updates and RSS feeds to individual phones--but it's emblematic of the shift towards software and the Internet as the main features in a modern mobile phone.
Unfortunately for Motorola, that era began more than two years ago with the launch of the iPhone, and the company has been struggling ever since. In the pre-iPhone era, Motorola was a hit with sleek phones like the Razr that turned heads, but after people started to realize what they could do with sophisticated phone software constantly connected to the Internet, the Razr became an afterthought. Motorola has struggled ever since, seriously considering getting out of the phone business altogether.
More: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10350204-94.html
