CLIQ Coming To More Than T-Mobile In USA

• Rob Jackson
• 15 years ago

An article from the Wall Street Journal says that Motorola is in talks to bring the Motorola CLIQ to other operators in the United States besides just T-Mobile, the launch partner. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha spoke at a financial analysts conference in San Francisco and this excerpt from the WSJ says it all:

Motorola Inc. (MOT) Co-CEO Sanjay Jha said Monday his company is in talks with large U.S. operators other than initial partner T-Mobile USA to sell its Cliq smartphone, but wouldn’t elaborate on key elements about the new product, including pricing.

Jha said Motorola is “in talks with all large operators in U.S.” and is “fairly hopeful we will begin to engage with all the U.S. operators.”

We already know the Motorola Sholes is headed to Verizon Wireless soon and will likely be announced on October 7th or thereabout. We’ve seen Motorola handsets rumored to be heading to AT&T and Sprint but perhaps nixed. I’m not sure Jha’s comments can be taken literally and here is what I would expect:

• Motorola CLIQ will launch EXCLUSIVELY on T-Mobile and if it DOES land on other US networks it won’t be until well after
• Motorola’s “talks” with other carriers are likely for OTHER Android phones based on BLUR and not the actual CLIQ itself

Regardless of direct implications, I think we can assume that Motorola has a full court press on mobile carriers in the states as it readies to let its full portfolio loose. Motorola NEEDS Android and they are poised to regain dominance with Android’s help, but they can’t do so if the carriers won’t offer the phone.

Look for a LOT more Motorola Android news over the next 3 months. This is gonna be fun!