Motorola focuses on mobile enterprise worker
CHICAGO–Motorola this week announced several products designed to let mobile workers stay connected to the workplace wirelessly, including a slim, multifunctional device with a qwerty keyboard known as the Q.
With an “antenna inside” design, the Moto Q is much thinner and lighter than other devices that provide cell-phone and e-mail capability. Also including a color screen, Internet surfing capabilities with a navigation pinwheel and a 1.3-megapixel camera, the Q may be “the most personal and ubiquitous gadget ever devised,” Motorola Chairman and CEO Ed Zander said during the company’s analyst conference.
With the Q, Motorola hopes to tap into the success of that RIM has enjoyed in the mobile e-mail market with its BlackBerry device while also providing cell-phone functionality in a slim form factor that is similar to Motorola’s popular RAZR.
“With the Moto Q, we’ve combined the best voice, data and design technology in one ultra-thin, intelligent, hard-working and incredibly must-have device,” Ron Garriques, president of Motorola’s mobile devices business, said in a prepared statement. “Today’s office space has the potential to be any place you want it to be with Q.”
Although Motorola reiterated its general commitment to Linux and Java operating systems in its mobile devices, the Q is one of the first devices to be powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0—a relationship Zander unveiled in a broadcast with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
“After all these years, it’s great to be with Microsoft,” Zander joked in a obvious reference to his heated battles with software giant as CEO of Sun Microsystem.
In addition the Q, Motorola introduced several other components to its is “seamless mobility” platform, including a dual-mode Wi-Fi/GSM phone with Cisco, Bluetooth-enabled eyewear with Oakley that allows users to communicate in a hands-free environment, and Bluetooth car kit that transitions a conversation from a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to an in-car system.