Motorola to use Windows Media for mobile phones

Motorola and Microsoft announced a collaboration to integrate Microsoft's Windows Media technologies on a number of Motorola's music handsets, which will allow users to access content from the broadest selection of online music stores from around the world.

Motorola's music handsets will add support for Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM), Windows Media Audio (WMA), the enhanced Windows Media Audio Pro codec and Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). These technologies will give consumers the maximum flexibility and options when purchasing and playing back their digital music.

Forthcoming Motorola music handsets will enable seamless connectivity to Windows-based PCs via the USB 2.0 high-speed protocol. By supporting MTP, Windows Media Player will automatically recognize Motorola handsets and enable users to quickly and easily sync their music from their PC to their phone. Music acquired from any pay-per-download or subscription store using Windows Media technology will transfer and playback on Motorola handsets.

In addition to making Motorola handsets interoperable with PCs, Motorola and Microsoft plan to provide mobile handset offerings that are tailored for discovering and acquiring music over an operator's 3G network. Incorporating the efficient encoding capabilities of the WMA Pro codec, this rich music offering will provide operators with handsets optimized for efficient music downloads* over a 3G network. Consumers will also benefit from quick and easy access to high quality music on the go.

Motorola began shipping Microsoft technologies on select handsets in 2005, and plans to offer Windows Media-enabled music experiences on multiple handsets worldwide in the second half of 2006. Support for over-the-air delivery capabilities and WMA Pro is expected to follow suit in 2007.