Motorola engineers creating their own OS?

Android's been very good to Motorola, but are they working on a rival OS behind closed doors?

In a bizarre twist of events the rumour mill is churning with news of Motorola's intentions to develop its own mobile OS.

 It would appear that a recent spate of hiring decisions is the cause of the sudden speculation. Acquiring a slew of experienced mobile and Web engineers, the assumption is that the new OS will be web-based, similar to HP's WebOS.

Given the success Moto has enjoyed with Android, this may seem slightly out of the blue. However, it would appear Motorola may have been planning such a move for a long time. CEO Sanjay Jha is reported to have said in a 2010 earnings call that "owning your OS is important, provided you have an ecosystem."

In creating its own OS, Motorola would be taking on the two largest ecosystems in the mobile industry, Apple's iOS and Google's Android, its current bedfellow and provider of the Honeycomb OS found on the Motorola iPad challenger, theMotorola Xoom.

Given the strength Motorola has built off the back of Android, we would hope that any plans to go solo will be strictly as a plan B rather than ditching Google's little green robot entirely, lest they end up another Symbian-esque cautionary tale.

Would you be interested in a device with Moto's own OS, or should they stick with Android? Let us know via the T3Facebook and Twitter feeds.


Motorola Xoom video hands-on.