(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Mobile phone maker Motorola said it is buying Blackberry rival Good Technology, a deal that should boost the prospects for its new Q device as consumer demand for email phones explodes.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal underscores efforts by the world's second-largest handset manufacturer to sell more business-oriented mobile devices.
In September, the company agreed to the $3.9 billion purchase of Symbol Technologies, a maker of portable bar code scanners and customized handheld computers.
Motorola said Santa Clara, Calif.-based Good Technology, a privately held firm which provides computing software and services for the Treo and other smartphones, will join its mobile devices unit, which has flourished in the past couple of years thanks to the runaway success of Razr phones.
Hoping to come up with another Razr-like blockbuster in the fast-growing smartphone category, Motorola introduced a QWERTY handheld device, called the Q, earlier this year to vie with the BlackBerry and the Treo, which also runs on Good Technology software.
Albert Lin, an analyst for American Technology Research, said Good Technology was probably the best available acquisition for Motorola in the category short of buying Research In Motion, the Canadian maker of the Blackberry.
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