Skip to main content

Motorola interested in Windows Phone 7

motorola-droid-3-front-screen-keyboard-open-hand-on

It looks like Windows Phone 7 might have some suitors after all. Motorola has just announced that it might be keen to work out a deal with Microsoft to run its mobile OS.

The words came from the big man himself, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha, who was speaking at the Oppenheimer Technology & Communications Conference in Boston. While he said that “today’s focus is Android,” Jha sounded intrigued by the Windows platform.

“I think we’re completely open to the notion of Windows as a platform,” he said according to The Inquirer. “I would have to consider whether defocusing from Android to Windows will be the right thing for us to do, but if the capabilities on Windows are such that that is the right thing for us, I think we will consider it.”

In other words, while he thinks the potential for WP7 is there, he’s waiting for Microsoft to show some more concrete success. Jha is likely playing coy to see if Microsoft will offer Motorola a similar deal to the one it gave Nokia. In order to convince Nokia to use WP7 rather than Android, Microsoft offered several billion dollars along with marketing and R&D support.

Should Microsoft not put together a similar offer for Motorola, Jha has the flexibility to see how Nokia succeeds while already having opened the possibility of adding WP7 to his company’s stable.

Despite possibly opening Motorola up to another mobile OS, Jha also touched on his opinion that the market can’t handle the number of current operating systems avaiable. He stated that iOS and Android are the clear front-runners and their success is assured. On the other hand, he didn’t seem to have much confidence in the ability of WP7, webOS and BlackBerry to all survive.

Of those three, Motorola’s interest in WP7 has to lend the OS a fair bit of weight, especially as patent wars between Apple and Android producers keep raging. With that in mind, it’s possible Motorola is hedging its OS bets while waiting to see if Android can come out of court unscathed.

Editors' Recommendations

Derek Mead
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Does the Google Pixel 7a have wireless charging?
Google Pixel 7a in Snow on park bench

The Pixel 7a has landed, and it does quite a few things better than its predecessor. While it still has the 6.1-inch OLED display as last year's Pixel 6a, the Pixel 7a bumps the refresh rate up to 90Hz from the original 60Hz. You also have the newer Google Tensor G2 chip inside, plus a huge jump to 64MP on the main camera compared to the 12.2MP camera on the Pixel 6a.

But what about wireless charging? The Pixel 6a did not have wireless charging capabilities, so did Google learn its lesson by adding that feature to its next budget-friendly phone?
Yes, the Google Pixel 7a has wireless charging

Read more
Motorola’s newest phone has something we’ve never seen before
Motorola Edge 40 being put into a pocket.

Motorola is on a roll, having now announced the Motorola Edge 40 smartphone on the back of the Motorola Edge+ (2023) and the Motorola Edge 40 Pro.

Don’t bother looking into Motorola’s naming style too deeply, though, as all you need to know is the Edge 40 series is for the U.K. and various other regions, while the Edge+ (2023) is for the U.S. It means the Edge 40 seen here may arrive at a later date in the U.S., but be called something else.

Read more
If you like cheap phones, you’ll love these 2 new Moto G options
The Moto G Stylus 2023, standing upright on a couch, with its display turned on.

The budget smartphone market is a bustling space right now, with great phones from Nokia and Samsung making big waves. Motorola is the unofficial king of the budget smartphone, but its throne is looking quite shaky right now. That might be why it's decided to remix some classics this year, releasing new versions of the Moto G 5G and Moto G Stylus.

While there are definitely some improvements in the 2023 versions of both phones, Motorola has also made some cutbacks for both, making these new versions remixes of past classics rather than pure upgrades. Here's everything you need to know about the Motorola Moto G 5G (2023) and Moto G Stylus (2023).
Moto G 5G (2023)

Read more