Motorola talks with UAE on Berry alternatives

US mobile phone maker Motorola is holding talks with UAE telecom operators etisalat and du to offer alternatives to BlackBerry which faces a ban in the UAE from October 11 due to security concerns.

“We are in active talks with both etisalat and du for our products to offer as alternatives,” said Raed Hafez, Portfolio Director for Middle East, Asia Pacific and International Distribution for Motorola.

He refused to provide any time frame for the conclusion of the negotiations with the two operators.

Motorola’s Droid and Apple’s iPhone are believed to be among the top rivals of BlackBerry in smartphones.  Motorola's second-quarter profit rose to $162 million, or 7 cents per share from $26 million, in the year-ago quarter, thanks to the popularity of Droid X.

Du presently has close to 100,000 BlackBerry users in the UAE, out of an estimated total 500,000.

The Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), an affiliate of the UAE armed forces, decided to ban BlackBerry services because they violate existing laws and pose a threat to national security.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday the US and the UAE will hold talks on BlackBerry use in the wake of the deadline of a UAE ban on messaging services.

According to Moody’s Investor Service, the decision by etisalat and du to give customers a deadline of more than two months before banning BlackBerry services will allow them to minimise losses.

On Sunday, the Saudi telecom regulator told the kingdom's telecom operators to test a proposed fix to the perceived national security threat posed by certain services available on BlackBerry smartphones. The Saudi regulator had threatened to cut off BlackBerry's Messenger function to Saudi Arabian users on Friday, but so far has allowed the service to continue.

Motorola this year launched Android-based the handsets the Motorola Milestone and Milestone XT720 and plans to launch eight more models in the UAE in 2010. In all, it will launch 20 new handsets worldwide this year, Hafez said.

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