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Motorola open to using Microsoft software despite suit

Motorola open to using Microsoft software despite suit

Microsoft had last week alleged that Motorola's android-based phones violate nine Microsoft patents, covering synchronisation of email, among others.

Motorola Inc is open to developing devices that run on Microsoft Corp's new mobile-operating system, despite the software giant recently filing patent infringement lawsuits against the handset-maker, according to a media report.

In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, Motorola Co-chief Executive Sanjay Jha said he is willing to look at using Microsoft's operating system, if the software company gets it right.

"I am open to finding ways to work with Microsoft. But it has to be a compelling offer," the report quoted Jha as saying.

The suits announced by Microsoft last week allege that Motorola's Android-based phones violate nine Microsoft patents, covering the synchronisation of email, calendars and contacts, scheduling of meetings and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.

According to the publication, the suits were viewed as an attempt to slow the explosive growth of Google Inc's competing mobile-operating system, Android, which Motorola uses for its smartphones.

Jha said he is not "overly unsettled" by the lawsuits and that "some of these are a part of business."

Motorola aims to swing back into profits in the fourth quarter with its mobile phone business and then spin them off, along with a division making television set-top boxes, in the first quarter next year.

Interestingly, Jha told WSJ that when he took over Motorola's cellphone business in 2008, he wanted to work with Microsoft's mobile software, as well as Google's Android. He said the first call he received as co-CEO was from Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.

But when Microsoft failed to deliver its new operating system in 2009, Jha said he had no choice but to exclusively support Android, the report noted.

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Published on: Oct 06, 2010, 3:49 PM IST
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