Motorola Inc may spin off its mobile-phone business early in the first quarter of next year, co-chief executive Sanjay Jha said in an interview.
Motorola has said in the past it would separate the handset business and a set-top box division from the rest of the company during the first quarter. The company may be able to complete the transaction near the beginning of that period, Jha said.
“The spin is looking good for first quarter, the early part of first quarter,” he said during the interview at an event in San Francisco.
Jha’s comments came as Motorola unveiled six new smartphones including a version of its Droid handset for business users. The company is rebuilding its handset business around Google Inc’s Android software, capitalizing on surging demand for devices that use the software.
“Get ready, Motorola is bringing Android-based smartphones to all consumers,” Jha said at the event on Tuesday.
AT&T Inc, the second-largest US wireless operator, said on Tuesday it would soon start selling three of those Motorola phones, the Bravo, Flipout and Flipside, ranging in price from US$79.99 to US$129.99 with a two-year contract.
Other Motorola phones introduced include the Citrus and Spice aimed at consumers. The Droid Pro, targeted at professionals, comes loaded with business software and additional security, Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said.
Jha said companies that make Android phones are pushing to develop valuable new features so they can differentiate their devices from other phones using the software, as well as from the BlackBerry and iPhone.
“This is now an innovation race,” Jha said in the interview. “It’s a good thing for consumers and for carriers.”
Jha called for wireless carriers to follow AT&T’s lead in offering tiered-pricing for data plans. Such plans attract more customers to smartphones because they can get service that is lower priced than the unlimited data plans.
“We think this is going to be the beginning of a seismic shift in telephony,” he said.
Jha also said Motorola will consider using the next version of Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system, when it is tailored for tablet computers. Motorola has in the past made phones that use Microsoft software.
Jha said in June that Motorola plans to unveil 20 smartphones this year after introducing nine since October last year.
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