Motorola Will Enter Tablet Market Next Year

Motorola is planning to expand its products beyond cell phones by offering a tablet computer sometime early next year. Although the manufacturer will miss the key holiday season, Motorola's Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said his company wants to be sure the project is competitive before delivering it to market.

"We want to make sure that any tablet that we deliver is competitive in the marketplace, and I think all of us will make sure that we will only deliver that when that occurs," Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said at an investor conference recently. "Hopefully, that's early next year."

Motorola struggled for a while in the cell phone business. In recent years, Jha and colleagues have worked to turn Motorola's troubled cellphone business around by focusing on smartphones powered by Android such as the Motorola DROID and DROID 2.

Google doesn't believe the latest version of Android, known as Froyo, is the best OS for tablet devices. Jha recognized this and said he wouldn't roll out a tablet until the technology is ready.

Apple has enjoyed great success with its iPad. This success has attracted the attention of other gadget makers such as Samsung, Dell, and other manufacturers who are quickly working to enter and compete in the tablet market.