motorola mobility
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ESPN's MPEG-4 switch provides a path to 1080p60 broadcasts
A side effect of ESPN's transition to MPEG-4 exclusivity is that the new Motorola equipment it's relying on (and passing out to affiliates) supports distribution of 3D signals and 1080p60 broadcasts. Executive VP of Technology for ESPN and friend to Engadget Chuck Pagano says this allows the network to future proof, extending on work already done when it built its latest studio in Los Angeles for 1080p60 from the ground up two years ago. Of course, we're still waiting for someone to go all BBC and flip the switch that brings those extra pixels home, but for now we just have to wait for each piece of the chain to be ready for that to happen.
Motorola's Jha blames apps for poor battery life, says Blur can save the day
Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha took time yesterday to talk business strategy, the advantages of Android, and to take developers to task for poorly optimized apps. At several points during the 50-minute chat the topic turned to lackluster battery life, and Jha placed blame squarely at the feet of hastily tested apps -- which he said can sap between 30 and 40 percent of your phone's juice. The chairman even suggested their effect on longevity and performance were the impetus behind 70 percent of handset returns. But, the company has a solution, and (surprisingly) its name is Blur. In a moment of presumably unintentional creepiness Dr. Jha said, "MotoBlur allows us to know, with precision, what battery life you're seeing," before suggesting that future phones could warn you about power draining apps and bandwidth hogs. What wasn't clear though, was if he was talking about the existing Android battery manager or if Motorola has been collecting usage data -- since we never opted-in to such a program, we're really hoping it's the former. Hit up the source link for the entire conversation, you'll find the relevant bits at the 4- and 25-minute marks.
Motorola leaks Xoom 2 tablet, Tracy XL watchphone, and Slimline, Zaha, Targa, and Pearl handsets
So here's the story: Pocketnow was able to snatch some screengrabs from a Motorola Mobility site redesign. The image above (and two more after the break) is what they saw. In addition to the Tracy XL homage to the Dick Tracy watchphone, we can also see the back of the Slimline handset and the front of the Zaha. The grabs also show a bit of the "Xoom 2" tablet and Pearl handset along the bottom of the screen in addition to a fleeting glimpse of the previously rumored Verizon LTE handset known as Targa. And you know what makes this all truly compelling? The fact that Motorola made Pocketnow remove the images from its site.
Motorola bringing Froyo to Bravo, seeks guinea pigs to test it
Have you spent one too many sleepless nights clinging to your Motorola Bravo, fantasizing about Flash Player and mobile hotspots? There may not be an app (nor a pill) for that, but it seems that the devs over at Motorola's Owners' Forum are anxious to make those bouts of insomnia a part of your past. And as if that wasn't enough to take the excitement level up a notch, a pre-release version -- the final firmware check -- will be doled out to a thousand hopeful participants willing to give the Froyo update a test drive. Successful candidates will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis and selected through "valid registration responses," so we'd encourage all the dreamers out there to hustle down to the source link and follow the sign-up directions. [Thanks, Josh]
Motorola's SocialTV app will turn your Xoom or Atrix into a communicative couch companion
Whether you look at stats or your own limitless experience, you know very well that humanity spends too much time staring at tubes, screens, and other unnatural visualizers. Motorola isn't really here to fix that ailment, but at least it's converging the uses of some of those device classes with its introduction of a SocialTV Companion Service. Designed to turn your smartphone, tablet or laptop into a, you guessed it, TV companion device, this new software serves up social networking, complimentary content, real-time chat, TV show ratings, and interactive (as opposed to what, non-interactive?) games. Basically, since you spend your TV-watching time idly browsing away on your Xoom anyway, why not fuse the two things together and "generate some incremental revenue" for your service provider in the process? We presume the new SocialTV stuff will be rolled out in app form, Moto doesn't dish up those details or give us a launch date. If only we had an app to tell us when to expect new apps to arrive.
Motorola makes WiFi-only Xoom official: $599 on March 27th
Sanjay Jha and various leaks already told us as much, but here's the official word: the WiFi-only Motorola Xoom is launching on March 27th for $599. Retail availability will be truly widespread, with Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Staples and Walmart all offering up the Honeycomb tablet. Other than the omission of the 3G and 4G radios of the original Xoom, you're basically looking at an identical hardware package. That includes a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, and a 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution.
Motorola dragged into court for Xoom trademark infringement
To Xoom or not to Xoom, that is the question -- and Xoom Corporation says Motorola needs to ditch the name of its new Honeycomb-laden slate. That's right, Xoom has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit asking for monetary damages, a temporary restraining order, and / or a preliminary injunction to spoil Moto's release party for its new tablet. In case you're curious, Xoom (the company) does seem to predate the slate by a good bit: it's been operating its online payments business under that name and has owned the www.xoom.com domain since 2003. Xoom got a registered service mark for its money transfer and e-payment services in 2004. But what about that Xoom trademark Motorola filed last year for mobile computers and related accessories? Traditionally, courts give priority to the first user to register a mark, so Xoom Corp. certainly has a case here, but we're not so sure they'll be able to prove that consumers are likely to be confused. To find out, the court will look at multiple factors to determine the likelihood of confusion: the strength of Xoom's mark, the similarities between the two marks, the proximity of Xoom's services and software to Moto's tablet in the consumer marketplace, evidence of actual customer confusion, and the similarity of the marketing channels used by Moto and Xoom. Honestly, we can't see Moto marketing the Xoom tablet to anyone looking for online payment services (aside from the occasional Android Market purchase) so Xoom Corp. has a tough road to hoe, but stranger things have happened -- we'll see how it goes.
Sanjay Jha says multiple Motorola tablet sizes coming, hints at Atrix on other carriers
Can't say this is any surprise, but Sanjay Jha just confirmed on Motorola's earnings call that he "sees good reason" to eventually release an entire family of tablets at "different multiple different display sizes and price points." Specifically, Jha mentioned 7-inch tablets, and later said that consumer demographics like kids, teenagers, and "women" want different things from a tablet than enterprise and professional customers -- which sounds suspiciously like Jha doesn't think women want a single device for work and home, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, since he's not always the smoothest speaker. As for the Atrix, Jha simply said that "you will see our diversity in the retail channel as well with other carriers in the US," which certainly sounds like it'll hit other carriers once the AT&T exclusivity runs out. How long that exclusivity is, we don't know -- but keep in mind that the Droid Bionic is very nearly the same phone, so there's a chance a software update will bring that sweet docking action to the red side of the market in the future. And if not, we're sure the hacking community will have it covered.
Motorola Mobility reports robust growth in last quarter, but predicts difficult times ahead
Yes, we are deep in Q4 2010 financial reporting season, and Motorola's freshly independent Mobility arm is latest to step up and deliver its figures. Total revenue over the past three months reached $3.4 billion, marking a 21 percent increase year-on-year, net revenue from mobile devices was $2.4 billion, up by 33 percent year-on-year, and handset shipments were a seemingly healthy 4.9 million. That figure's disappointed Wall Street estimates, however -- the collective expectation, according to MarketWatch, was 5.2 million -- and the net profit of $80 million is barely (for a company of this size) in the black. More doom and gloom is cast by Motorola itself, which is predicting a difficult first quarter of 2011 that will end with the company losing between 9 and 21 cents per share in net terms. Ah well, let's try to enjoy the sunshine of Moto making money today and forget the rainclouds of tomorrow.
Motorola Atrix 4G and Xoom tablet launching at the end of February, Droid Bionic and LTE Xoom in Q2
Motorola had one of the best CES showings of any company in recent memory, and now we've got some rough ship dates for all that new gear: CEO Sanjay Jha just announced on the company's earnings call that the Atrix 4G for AT&T and 3G Xoom for Verizon will arrive at "the end of February," while the LTE-enabled Droid Bionic and LTE Xoom will arrive at "the end of the second quarter" as previously promised. That sounds good to us -- and with that earlier Best Buy leak suggesting the Xoom will hit on February 17, we're hoping that Moto's taking a long view of when the end of February actually begins. Even better, a late February Xoom release supports those rumors that Honeycomb will be generally released in March, which is when the real Android tablet invasion will begin. It's all happening, folks. Update: Oh boy. Jha followed up his Xoom comments in the Q&A portion by hinting that the Xoom might slip to March, but that he's very confident they'll make their timeline. Fingers crossed.
Motorola split official tomorrow, we hope you like red
Here we go. Perfectly timed with this week's festivities, Motorola's split, wherein one become two (a "reverse Spice Girls," if you will) is crossing the final t's and dotting the remaining i's. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that by Tuesday, the Motorola stock ticker (MOT) will stop trading, being replaced instead by Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI) and Motorola Solutions Inc. (MSI, no relation). The latter will focus on public-safety radios and handheld scanners while the former, with a bright new logo, will be the smartphone / set-top box-focused company that for all intents and purposes we mean when we simply write "Motorola" from here on out. It just rolls off the tongue better.
Motorola's new logo: it's red
Been wondering about what impact Motorola's January split into two distinct entities will have on your humble consumption of consumer electronics? Well, after attending Moto's big Christmas do in London, we seem to have uncovered one of the biggies: the Droid maker is switching to a crimson new brand identity from the start of the new year. They won't tell us much more than that, but we can only surmise that the slight chromatic deviation will be in an effort to distinguish between the Mobility arm, which will make all the pocketable things we know and love, and the Solutions group in charge of the less glamorous business hardware. We're sure there'll be some reshuffling of middle management and other structural reorganizations taking place, but we've got the big story right here: the stationery, it is a-changing.
Motorola Mobility's mystery gadget streams video to tablets and phones
Wonder why Motorola's set-top-box business got bundled in with the phones? If we had to guess, it's probably because Motorola Mobility is making a device that will wirelessly join both. Speaking at the Reuters Global Media Summit, company president Daniel Moloney said that Motorola's working on a standalone device that will wirelessly sling video to tablets and phones in the home, and will later be integrated directly into new set-top-boxes the company rolls out. "It's one consumer proposition that will come sooner rather than later," he told the crowd, suggesting that the device would be available through "service providers" rather than sold off the shelf, and that said providers might charge an additional service fee for its use. Here's hoping not. Perhaps Qualcomm finally found a buyer for that FLO TV spectrum, though?
Motorola split wraps up on January 4th
Just in time for CES, eh? We knew it was happening at some point in January, and Motorola has just announced that it'll formally be split into two companies as of January 4th, 2011. Actually, that's not technically accurate: Motorola Mobility -- the phone and set-top box guys -- will be spun off into their own entity, while the parent company will change its name from Motorola to Motorola Solutions, responsible for the company's infrastructure businesses. Shareholders of the current company as of December 21st will receive one share of Mobility for every eight shares they've got in their possession right now, while the remainder of the company will enact a 1-for-7 reverse split; as of the 4th, you'll be looking at two stock symbols: MMI for Mobility and MSI for Solutions. So... who's buying? Follow the break for the official press release.
Motorola targeting January to finalize split
Though Sanjay Jha is clearly the more visible of Motorola's two co-CEOs, it was his stealthier counterpart, Greg Brown, who mentioned during an analyst conference today that they're looking to wrap up the company's split in January of next year. Brown had already been tapped to head up Motorola Solutions -- one half of the post-split aftermath with $5.3 billion in cash and $2.9 billion in debt -- and he's saying that his company's independent identity "effectively starts today." The handset guys over at Motorola Mobility, meanwhile, have been filing devices with the FCC under their post-split name for a while, but let's be honest: we're still going to know all this stuff as "Motorola"... and that's probably exactly how they want it.
Motorola's phone unit starts filing with FCC under post-split name
Divorces certainly can be long, drawn-out processes, can't they? Yes, granted, Motorola's oft-ballyhooed split into two companies is a totally amicable one designed primarily to optimize the chances of the phone unit's survival, but the fact remains that this whole process has been going on since 2008... and it's not over yet. One little step happened this week, though: the phone unit up until this point had been filing RF test reports with the FCC under the name "Motorola Inc.," but they're now filing as "Motorola Mobility, Inc.," which is the name of the phone-focused spinoff. Of course, survival can't be assured (or even be made possible) without a never-ending torrent of awesome hardware... so you're not off the hook yet, guys.
Motorola taps former employee for gig as Mobility prez
Moto didn't stray too far from the gene pool to find someone to fill the Motorola Mobility president's post, tapping Dan Maloney -- a dude served as the president of Moto's Home and Networks Mobility business before his most recent role as CEO of electronic component supplier Technitrol. When he starts clocking in at Motorola next month, he'll be tasked with helping to prep the company for its upcoming split, after which he'll be serving as president of the independent venture right under CEO Sanjay Jha. Not to say anything negative about Technitrol... but sure, we can see how that might be a little more exciting of a gig. Follow the break for Motorola's press release.
