Shifting gears
Having decided to license the basic blueprints of its cell phones to anyone who wants them, Motorola Corp. is banking on the idea that it can still differentiate itself in the handset business by adding features that competitors may not yet have.
Timeport 270c
In that vein, the Schaumburg, Ill., company has started shipping the Timeport 270c, its first phone based on Bluetooth technology. Devices equipped with Bluetooth can communicate at short distances without wires, although there are few Bluetooth devices on the market at this point. The phone is available at www.motorola.com/shop for about $350 and should be available through AllTel Corp. at all AllTel stores by the end of the year.
Headset due
Later this year, Motorola plans to ship a headset that communicates with the phone.