Motorola Inc chief executive Ed Zander rode onto the stage on Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show astride a yellow bicycle, joking that he pedaled all the way from Chicago because his company was on "expense controls."
It was not the first poke Zander would make about the wireless equipment maker's ailing fortunes, even as he opened this year's major technology show by introducing several new products and services that Motorola hopes will boost sales.
The company recently warned of disappointing sales and earnings from the key holiday selling season, causing investors to dump their Motorola stock and industry experts to use phrases like "tired product" to describe the blockbuster Razr line of cell phones.
PHOTO: AFP
Zander referenced analyst concerns by announcing the company's latest phone, then lugging a 20-year old mobile handset the size of a brick to his ear.
"The analysts who are here today will like this because there are a lot of gross margin dollars in this puppy," Zander said, commenting that the phones once sold for US$4,000 each. "If I could get some of you to buy some, it would sure help."
Zander then introduced a real new phone model, the Motorizer, that would use Microsoft Corp's Windows Media software to transfer music purchased from more than 200 Web-based stores worldwide to the handset.
The phone will become available the first half of this year, the company said.
Motorola also announced a partnership with Warner Music Group to sell Motorizer phones pre-loaded with music, as well as sell ringtones, wallpaper and videos.
Zander also demonstrated a wireless stereo headset that will play music streamed from the phone using Bluetooth. Controls on the headset, which can work up to 10m away from the phone, can also pause songs to take or make calls.
Motorola also said it was one of several companies working with Yahoo Inc to incorporate a new mobile application, Yahoo Go, into its handsets. The software delivers search, photos, local information, e-mail and other Yahoo services.
On the cable TV product front, Motorola said it would expand its "follow me TV" feature to Comcast Corp systems this year. The service allows customers to pause a program on a TV in one room, then restart it on a monitor in another part of the house.
Search titan Google Inc and South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co also used the Consumer Electronics Show to announce a similar alliance on Monday.
Samsung mobile telephones equipped with Google software applications will enable users worldwide to search the Internet, check e-mail and map routes, the companies said.
The mobile telephones will be designed with a Google icon on the option menu to allow a single click connection to Google search, G-mail and maps, the Mountain View, California, search engine colossus said.
Samsung has already launched the Ultra Edition 13.8, a combined camera mobile telephone with Google mobile search and G-mail.
Samsung's alliance with Google represents a commitment to "a ubiquitous world where mobile enables our consumers to access information about anything, anywhere, anytime," Samsung Telecommunication Network president Kitae Lee said in a statement.
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