Motorola's Jha Remains Open to Windows Phone Down the Line
Motorola Mobility (NYS: MMI) CEO Sanjay Jha said that although his company is completely focused on building phones for Google's (NAS: GOOG) Android platform, he is open to working with Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) on its Windows Phone operating system if the conditions are right.
Jha said Motorola is interested in partnering with Microsoft if it could strike a deal similar to the one Microsoft recently inked with Nokia (NYS: NOK) . "I think we're completely open to the notion of Windows as a platform," Jha said in an appearance at the Oppenheimer Technology & Communications Conference. "Clearly, all of our focus today is on Android."
The Motorola chief said the company will evaluate Windows Phone to see if it becomes a viable ecosystem. However, he said that beyond Android and Apple's (NAS: AAPL) iOS, it's not clear which smartphone platforms will survive in the long term. He said he does not think all three competing ecosystems -- Windows Phone, Hewlett-Packard's webOS and Research In Motion's (NAS: RIMM) BlackBerry -- can survive.
In a wide-ranging discussion of Motorola' standing in the handset market and its priorities, Jha touched upon Motorola's patent portfolio, its global expansion and how it will differentiate itself. One of the factors that will set Android handset makers apart, he said, is the strength of their intellectual property. HTC, Samsung and Motorola are each engaged in separate patent disputes with Apple.
"We have a very large IP portfolio," he said. "And I think in the long term as things settle down, you will see meaningful difference in positions in Android players both in terms of avoidance of royalties and the ability to collect royalties."
Jha also said that Motorola will differentiate its devices in the second half of the year through enhanced enterprise and multimedia capabilities as well as through wider distribution. He said Motorola will have more global devices launches in the second half -- the Droid Bionic LTE smartphone for Verizon (NYS: VZ) Wireless will not be the only key device from the company. Jha added that beyond solidifying its position in the U.S., Motorola wants to expand aggressively into Europe, especially into Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
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