Motorola Smart Phones to Run On Android

Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA plan to launch Motorola(MOT) smart phones based on Google's(GOOG) Android operating system before the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Google-powered phones are part of Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha's efforts in recent months to overhaul the company's struggling handset division. Motorola is betting heavily on Android to regain traction in the cellphone market, the Journal notes.

A Motorola spokeswoman declined to comment for the Journal.

The phones will join a crowded market, including Apple's(AAPL) latest iPhone model and Palm's(PALM) new Pre.

T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom(DT), on Monday announced it plans to launch in early August the myTouch 3G, the follow-up to the T-Mobile G1, the first phone powered by the Android software.

T-Mobile will launch a touch-screen Motorola phone with a slide-out keyboard. The software, built on Android, will emphasize "social communications" services, the Journal reports, citing a person familiar with the device said. The phone will have a range of built-in social-networking software from providers such as Facebook and Twitter.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications(VZ) and Vodafone(VOD), is planning to carry a Motorola device with similar hardware to the T-Mobile one, including a touch screen and slide-out keyboard, a person familiar with the situation said.

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