Motorola Offers Android Smart Phone End Of The Year

Verizon and T-Mobile USA plan to offer Motorola smartphones running Google's Android operating system by the end of the year, according to a report in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.

Citing "people familiar with the matter," the Journal said the new phones stem from efforts by Motorola Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha to revive the company's sluggish handset division. Motorola is hoping Android will help it win a greater slice of the cell phone market.

A Motorola representative declined to comment to the Journal. However, the report said a person familiar with the proposed T-Mobile smartphone described it as having a touch screen with a slide-out keyboard. The Android operating system will offer built-in social networking from providers such as Facebook and Twitter, the person added.

T-Mobile currently has two phones on the market running Android. The company debuted its G1 smartphone last year and recently announced a second phone, the myTouch, to hit stores in August.

Verizon has said it plans to support Android phones that would be available later this year but hasn't revealed further details.

Report delivered by Lance Whitney (Journalist, Web developer, and software trainer)