Despite its success with Android, Motorola Mobility has reportedly hired a number of engineers, some from Adobe and Apple, to work on a brand new web-based operating system. “I know they’re working on it,” Jonathan Goldberg, an analyst with Deutsche Bank told Information Week. “I think the company recognizes that they need to differentiate and they need options, just in case. Nobody wants to rely on a single supplier.” Sources speaking to Goldberg and Information Week suggested that Motorola Mobility was building the OS as a possible alternative to Android, and while Motorola Mobility didn’t deny that it might be working on something, it has reaffirmed that it’s committed to the platform. It all sounds a bit strange to us, especially since Motorola helped kick off the Android craze in the United States with the DROID, DROID 2 and DROID X on Verizon Wireless, among others. It seems more likely to us that Motorola Mobility is working on a Web-based operating system to compliment Android, instead of one to compete with it, but we’ll have to see.
UPDATE: A Motorola spokesperson reached out to BGR with the following statement: “Motorola Mobility remains committed the Android operating system. We have hired employees with HTML skills to enable the best browsing experience to consumers and our strategic focus on the Android platform has not changed.”
