Motorola's new Razr sways to iTunes rhythm

Motorola officially announced four upcoming Razr handsets on Tuesday, including one that comes preloaded with Apple's iTunes music software.

The Razr V3i is expected to hit shelves sometime before the end of the year. It includes a 1.23-megapixel digital camera with 8x digital zoom, video capture and a full-screen viewfinder.

The handset will also ship with a hot-swappable memory card, 65K colour support on the display and integrated Bluetooth wireless capability.

Pricing is expected to depend on the network, details of which Motorola has not yet revealed. The company's Rokr E1 phone also includes access to iTunes.

Motorola will also ship a new Razr V3c using CDMA wireless standard Ev-DO (Evolution Data Only, Evolution Data Optimised) networks. The handset has several of the same features as the Razr V3i, with the substitution of a 1.3-megapixel camera.

Both newer handsets are expected to tap into a new momentum at Motorola, which has reported strong sales of its popular clamshell Razr handset since its debut last year. Motorola continues to be the second largest worldwide handset supplier, behind Nokia.

According to market researcher The NPD Group, Motorola accounted for 30 per cent of the 31.6 million handsets sold in the third quarter of 2005. Three of the company's mobile phones, including the ultra-thin Razr, were among the five top-selling models (the others were the V551 and V180).

Motorola also said it would sell a pink and a blue version of its Razr handset later this year. Motorola CEO Ed Zander revealed shipping details of the coloured versions of the handsets in September.