Motorola Mobility is betting that a new series of innovative mobile devices and accompanying carrier agreements will put it squarely on the comeback trail after several years of sagging fortunes. Newly spun off from parent Motorola, the independent handset maker took the wraps off next-generation smartphones and an Android-based web tablet Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The company also announced major carrier agreements with AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Orange UK and Bell in Canada. All believe Motorola’s potentially game-changing technologies will appeal to consumers.
“We’re innovating across the board — not just in smartphones — as we revolutionize mobile computing with experiences that push the limits of what you thought was possible with your mobile device,” said Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha.
Playing Leapfrog
Motorola Mobility hopes to leapfrog Apple’s successful iPhone franchise by establishing itself as the premier innovator of next-generation 4G Long Term Evolution technology. On Wednesday, the company unveiled two 4G smartphones called the Droid Bionic and Atrix 4G, both powered by dual-core processors.
The Atrix will apparently be the first smartphone powered by Nvidia’s dual-core Tegra 2 chip to reach consumers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The 4G smartphone is slated to become available under exclusive distribution agreements with carriers AT&T, Bell and Orange UK, with the latter company saying it will launch the device in the second quarter.
The Atrix 4G is designed to essentially become a user’s primary digital hub for creating, editing and interacting with documents, media and content. To make this possible, the company has developed a new “webtop” application and trend-setting docking-station accessories that provide users with a larger screen, keyboard and trackpad that will enable the phones to deliver an enhanced and more interactive computer-like experience.
Motorola’s webtop app runs the full version of Mozilla’s…