Motorola’s Sanjay Jha Says Mobile Developers Are ‘Really What We Want’
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is hosting a developer conference today in San Diego, the day before CTIA, to encourage developers to build applications for handsets it builds based on the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android platform. To a room full of roughly 800 developers, Motorola’s Co-CEO Sanjay Jha said it bluntly: “You do some crazy-ass things, and that’s really what we want.”
His pitch promised that Motorola will become a significant provider of smartphones, and that they will simplify their business to make it easier to work with them. Jha: “We want your input and we want to be guided by you in important ways.”
Next, Christy Wyatt, Motorola’s VP of the software and applications ecosystem, made the case as to why they’ve decided on Google Android. In the past they’ve focused on a lot of operating systems, but now they want to dive deep with just one. “We can’t do that across eight operating systems. We’ve been said to be operating system promiscuous in the past. I still believe there is a contraction coming in the future, but we are still in a world where you have at least five options.” Further, she said that the Google Android platform provides the ability to offer a rich media experience on a multi-tasking device that is designed for the internet.
It was important to choose a platform that was designed for the internet, Wyatt said, because when it comes to the kinds of content being developed for mobile, the overwhelming majority is web-based (not application driven).
Perhaps, the most important message for developers came in the final moments of this morning’s keynote. Motorola has built the Blur platform that lays on top of the Android platform. But they can’t do everything, and won’t do everything. Their focus will remain on messaging, but there’s tons of other applications that will need building. And, in addition, “there’s nothing that we are showing here today that is incompatible with the Google Android.” One of the big concerns with Android is that it will fragment and developers will have to tailor their apps for each handset maker that rolls out a device. While Motorola didn’t promise that it will be that easy, Wyatt said: “These are all Android-compatible devices. This is not a different ecosystem.”
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