Motorola downplays T-Mobile in US

AS MOTOROLA prepares for the launch of its Google smartphone in Blighty, there are rumours going around that all is not well with the relationship between the manufacturer and its US partner T-Mobile.

In the UK, where it is called Dext, the phone is going to be launched today. Things appear to be going swimmingly.

However across the pond, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said his outfit is in talks with large carriers other than its initial partner T-Mobile USA to sell the gadget, which it calls Cliq in the US. Jha said he is "fairly hopeful we will begin to engage with all the US operators."

While T-Mobile will carry the Cliq in the US it had been thought that this would be an exclusive deal, perhaps with more cash subsidising the gadget.

Now it seems that relationship has either changed or other US telecoms are knocking on Motorola's door wanting a piece of the action.

This can't be much to do with hype. There has been little said in the press about what the phone can do other than basics and the fact that the Android operating system offers social notworking functions.

A key feature of the Cliq or Dext is social networking software dubbed "Motoblur," which syncs a user's phone contacts, emails, posts, feeds and photos from a wide range of messaging and social notworking services such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Gmail. µ