Motorola Inc. plans to use Android, Google’s open-source software platform, as the operating system for its showcase mobile phones, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The newspaper, citing "people familiar with the matter," said Sanjay Jha, who took over as Motorola’s co-chief executive in August, also plans job cuts at the Illinois-based company.<\/p>\n
It said Jha, who heads the struggling mobile devices division in addition to being co-CEO, was expected to detail his plans as early as Thursday, when Motorola reports its quarterly earnings.<\/p>\n
The Journal said Jha was expected to announce thousands of layoffs at the company, which has its headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois, and employs some 66,000 people.<\/p>\n
It said he notably plans to cut back on the number of software platforms the company uses in its mobile phones.<\/p>\n
Jha is looking at using Google’s Android operating system and just two other software platforms , Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and its own P2K platform, and would abandon at least four other platforms, the paper said.<\/p>\n
The paper noted that Nokia Corp. uses just two operating systems for most of its handsets while Motorola has more than a half a dozen.<\/p>\n
It said Motorola is hoping that using an open-source platform will spur outside developers to come up with applications that would allow Motorola to compete with Apple’s iPhone and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry.<\/p>\n
The Journal said Motorola was not expected to deliver an Android-based phone until next year<\/p>\n
Android is the operating system for the T-Mobile G1 phone which went on sale this month and is Internet search king Google’s first venture into the mobile market.<\/p>\n