Despite being the focus of much analyst and consumer angst lately, there is one thing Nokia has that Motorola's CEO may want in the future: an intimate relationship with Microsoft Windows Phone.
During an appearance at Tuesday's Oppenheimer Technology & Communications Conference in Boston, Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha said he was "open" to aligning more with Microsoft's nascent Windows Phone operating system. For the last three years, Motorola's post-RAZR fortunes were revived by developing Android smartphones, particularly through the Droid series.
"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," Jha said.
"Nokia seems to be disproportionately well positioned in that ecosystem," he continued. "I actually don't understand that deal with precision, but if our position in that ecosystem could be made to be somewhat equivalent, that would be an interesting option for us to consider."
But Jha stopped short of finishing his thought: "Let me cut the words down to the following: focus today is Android."
This fall, Motorola will follow up its flagship Droid series with the long-delayed, but highly anticipated dual-core Droid Bionic on Verizon Wireless.
In the second quarter, Motorola sold 440,000 Xoom tablets and 4.4 million smartphones, but Jha said he expected tablet sales to slow down. Motorola's phone business also reported a loss of $31 million, on sales of $2.4 billion.
Meanwhile this fall Microsoft's next-generation OS, Windows Phone 7.5, or "Mango," will be in the limelight as the first smartphones from Nokia hit North America and Europe.