DigiTimes is reporting that Motorola launched two Linux-based smartphones in Japan today, and one based on Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003. Motorola expects two percent growth in the smartphone market before 2005, when smartphones will represent 10 percent of the total market, the article says.

Smartphones are devices that, in addition to a phone, provide the user with a mobile computing platform similar to a palmtop or advanced PDA. They provide Internet access, and allow users to download and store files and even install and run applications.

Motorola announced on Valentines Day of 2003 that it would adopt Linux for future smartphones, later adding cutting edge Java technologies to its smartphone roadmap. The company has previously launched three Linux-based smartphones in the Asian market: the A760, a basic smartphone; the A768, a “productivity” phone for business users (pictured at right); and the multimedia-oriented (no pun intended) E680.

Today, the DigiTimes reports, Motorola has launched in Japan the A780 (pictured atop page, click for larger view) a quad-band, high-end productivity phone expected to see distribution in the US “before 2005,” and the A768i, which appears to be a tri-band version of the dual-band A768 productivity phone.

Motorola expects smartphones to represent as much as ten percent of the global mobile phone market by the end of 2005, according to the DigiTimes story. Market research firm ABI, meanwhile, has has projected a 25 percent share of the cellphone market for smartphones by 2009, while IDC found that smartphone shipments experienced 85.8 percent year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2004.

Motorola seems reticent to put all its smartphone eggs in one embedded OS basket, choosing instead to continue developing phones based on both Linux and Windows Mobile. In addition to the pair of Linux-based phones launched in Japan today, Motorola also introduced its Windows Mobile based MPx220, the DigiTimes reports.

The brief DigiTimes story includes a specification comparison chart for the three new Motorola smartphones available in Japan. It can be found here. Additionally, an interview with Motorola Director of Japan Tom Okada is available here.

 
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