Sanjay Jha, Motorola’s co-chief executive, reaffirmed the troubled handset vendor’s commitment to Android-based smartphones at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday. “We are now at the centre of the Android ecosystem and that is a good place to be,” said Jha, reports the Financial Times. Motorola launched the Android-powered ‘Droid’ and ‘Cliq’ last quarter and has two other Android-powered smartphones in the Chinese market. It unveiled its fifth Android device – the Backflip – at this week’s show. AT&T is likely to offer the Backflip later this year following the operator’s announcement it will support an “exclusive” Motorola Android device as part of its 2010 push into Google’s platform, whilst Brazilian operator Vivo will offer the device by the end of the first quarter this year. “I think we have made a good start [in revitalising the handset operations],” said Jha, adding that he “would be disappointed if we are not profitable in 2010 in at least one quarter.”

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Motorola also used the CES event to demonstrate a prototype media tablet that it says could be ready commercially by the end of the year. Motorola joins a host of technology companies showing off new tablet computers this week in an attempt to steal the limelight from a long-awaited Apple tablet, rumoured to launch later this month. Motorola’s prototype has a 7-inch screen and – like the firm’s latest smartphones – runs on the Android operating system. “I can anticipate it being a US$300 device but we have to go through the pricing process,” said Don Schoch, Motorola’s director of program management. The tablet launch date is intended to coincide with the deployment of Verizon Wireless’ new LTE network, which is expected to be available in 25 to 30 US markets this year.