Motorola Developing Straight-to-Consumer Google Phone

Posted 01/28/2010 at 1:20pm | by Bart Salisbury

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Dumb phones may not yet be dead, but they are in the process of dying. Manufacturers who haven’t hitched themselves to smartphones are paying the price--it’s time to put-up or shut-up for them. Motorola, which has been struggling with sales of late, has decided to put-up, announcing plans to introduce 20 smartphones in 2010, including one “consumer device” it will produce with Google that will be sold directly to consumers.

The hot phones for the final quarter of 2009 were produced by Nokia and Apple--both saw a rise in market share--while Motorola’s share and revenue dropped. (No word yet on what happened for RIMM or Palm.) Motorola only managed $5.7 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, a 20% decline from the fourth quarter of the previous year. The smartphone handwriting is clearly on the wall, as Motorola’s only bright spot was the sales of Android-powered smartphones, such as the Droid and the Cliq.

There are no other details, other than this admission by Motorola. What this new Google phone will look like, what it will do, what it will cost, or when it will be available are all unknowns.

Image Credit: Motorola, Google