Motorola is ramping up its device presence in Asia as it continues to bank on Google’s Android operating system. The US vendor held a press conference in South Korea today where it launched Motoroi, Korea’s first phone powered by Android and available via SK Telecom. The new model has a larger camera and more media features than its Droid model sold in the US. The Korean move is aimed at taking on Apple in the country (as well as domestic suppliers Samsung and LG), whose iPhone is already on sale via KT Corp. In addition, Reuters notes that Motorola is planning to launch five to six smartphones in China this year. “In China, we’ve already launched two [Android] models last month, and there will be another one very very shortly, and probably another four or five later,” John Gherghetta, corporate VP and general manager of the company’s mobile devices business unit, told reporters in Seoul. Gherghetta added that “a new version” of the Motoroi would be available in China in the first half of this year.

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 earlier this month. “We are now at the centre of the Android ecosystem and that is a good place to be,” said Jha at the time. “I think we have made a good start [in revitalising the handset operations],” he noted, adding that he “would be disappointed if we are not profitable in 2010 in at least one quarter.”