WASHINGTON (AFP) – 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.
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.
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.
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.
It said he notably plans to cut back on the number of software platforms the company uses in its mobile phones.
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.
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.
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.
The Journal said Motorola was not expected to deliver an Android-based phone until next year
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.
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