Motorola open to using Microsoft software despite suit: Report Motorola open to using Microsoft software despite suit: Report

NEW YORK: Motorola Inc is open to developing devices that run on Microsoft Corp's new mobile operating system, despite the software giant recently filing patent infringement lawsuits against the handset-maker, according to a media report.

In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, Motorola Co- Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said he is willing to look at using Microsoft's operating system if the software company gets it right.

"I am open to finding ways to work with Microsoft. But it has to be a compelling offering," the report quoted Jha as saying.

The suits announced by Microsoft last week allege that Motorola's Android-based phones violate nine Microsoft patents covering the synchronisation of email, calendars and contacts, scheduling of meetings and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.

According to the publication, the suits were viewed as an attempt to slow the explosive growth of Google Inc's competing mobile operating system, Android, which Motorola uses for its smartphones.

Jha said that he is not "overly unsettled" by the Microsoft lawsuits and that "some of these lawsuits are a part of business."

Motorola aims to swing back into profits with its mobile phone business in the fourth quarter and then spin them off, along with a division making television set-top boxes, in the first quarter next year.

Interestingly, Jha said that when he took over Motorola's cellphone business in 2008, he wanted to work with Microsoft's mobile software, as well as Google's Android. He said the first call he received as co-CEO was from Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.

But when Microsoft failed to deliver its new operating system in 2009, Jha said he had no choice but to exclusively support Android, the report noted.