It’s not much of a surprise considering the leaks we’ve seen, but Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha said the company is working on more Android phones for Verizon Wireless.
As you know, Motorola already has two Android devices for the nation’s largest U.S. carrier: the Droid and the rather boring Devour. The Droid has been a massive success for the company and it plans to bring more devices under that branding.
“In a lot of ways, the Droid franchise is associated with Motorola,” Jha said during a Barclays Capital conference Thursday. “The quality of devices that we are producing, I am excited about.”
So, I think it’s a safe bet to assume that the Motorola Shadow that was found in a gym could be the Droid 2 but there’s still some question about what will happen to the piece of hardware that was supposed to be the Nexus Two. That handset had a similar form factor as the Droid but looked sleeker and would have boosted specs. Now that Google is going to get out of the hardware business, will this handset turn into another Droid?
Another issue is that I’m not quite sure that the Droid brand is as tightly associated with Motorola as the company wants to believe. Sure, the Droid itself is in the hands of more than a million customers but the Droid Incredible is also selling like hot cakes and Verizon is having trouble keeping up with demand. The Droid Eris is also moving plenty of units in its own right.
So, when can we expect a Droid followup from Motorola? Jha didn’t give many details but I would expect one in a few months. One thing is for certain – this is going to be a killer few months for high-end smartphones. We’re only a few weeks away from the official introduction of the EVO 4G, the next iPhone is sure to impress and Motorola’s next Droid could be cool too. It’s a good time to be in the market for a new device.