Motorola Refreshes Popular RAZR Line

Motorola announced that it plans to add four new RAZR phones to its lineup, including versions available in pink and blue, the first RAZR for CDMA networks, and an update to the original V3 phone that will include iTunes in some markets.

The RAZR has proven to be a huge success story for the company, with sales expected to top 10 million units worldwide before the end of this year. Motorola has also regained a lot of lost market share; in the third quarter, it led all GSM phone manufacturers with a 39 percent share, ahead of former first place Nokia with 22 percent.

Motorola says design was an integral part of producing the new phones. "We wanted to evolve the Motorola RAZR without compromising the integrity and philosophy of the original design," corporate vice president of marketing Leslie Dance said.

Thus, the new RAZR V3i is only a evolutionary update to the phone and will include a better 1.23-megapixel camera, as well as expandable memory capabilities. Also, the phone will now carry a spun metal look, as opposed to the original brushed metal used for the original RAZR phones.

The V3i will include the iTunes music software first introduced on the ROKR. However, Motorola said that the feature would not be available in all regions and would be carrier dependent. If iTunes was not preinstalled, Motorola's own Digital Music Player would be included in its place.

The new pink and blue RAZRs will carry a similar feature set to the traditional RAZR V3 phone. According to sources, the blue design will likely have more widespread launch; the pink model is expected to have limited availability in most markets.

Finally, the RAZR V3c will be the lineup's first CDMA model. The phone will support high-speed EV-DO networks, such as those offered by Verizon and Sprint, and include a 1.3-megapixel camera alongside Bluetooth and an MP3 player.

Motorola hopes the V3c will transfer some of its success to CDMA. Last quarter it was tied for second place with Samsung holding 18 percent of the market. LG, primarily a manufacturer of CDMA-based phones, led its competitors with 27 percent.

The new RAZR phones, except for the pink V3, are expected to have widespread availability by the end of the year. Cingular is likely to carry the V3i, which would join the ROKR, with discussions ongoing with both Sprint and Verizon to carry the CDMA V3c. No specific carriers have been mentioned for the pink and blue RAZRs.