Verizon, Motorola, AT&T, Sprint launch Moto RAZR2

Following Verizon Wireless' announcement early Friday morning that it would offer the RAZR2 V9m (the EV-DO version), AT&T and Sprint have announced their own RAZR2 plans and Motorola chimed in to remind us that Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, US Cellular and Verizon Wireless will all have the RAZR2. AT&T is going to offer the 3G version of the handset, the RAZR2 V9, while Sprint is offering the EV-DO version (V9m), like Verizon Wireless.

Current Analysis' go-to guy for mobile devices, Avi Greengart believes T-Mobile USA is going to launch the Linux-based version of the handset, the V8, which is the first one to run on Motorola's MOTOMAGX Linux platform. "It's fast," Greengart said. "It's not obvious to end users that its a Linux phone, but it is obviously much faster than previous RAZR's. It's running on a 500MHz processor."

AT&T noted in its release that its former brand Cingular had an exclusive with Motorola for the launch of the first RAZR, but no such deal exists between carriers and the handset maker for the RAZR2. Greengart says the onus is on Motorola to convince consumers to buy the RAZR2 as a result. "Motorola is going to have to foot the bill on this one. Carrier advertising budgets tend to be spent on marketing exclusive devices to consumers. I suspect AT&T will continue to focus on the iPhone. Verizon Wireless will likely focus on the LG Chocolate 2, which is only at Verizon. It's good for Motorola that this handset will have wide distribution, but it's going to have to convince consumers to seek this out, and [the RAZR2] is pricey [at $299.99]," Greengart said. Especially when you can get an iPhone for another couple hundred bucks.   

For more on the RAZR2 launch:
- read this release from Motorola
- read this release from AT&T
- read this release from Sprint

ALSO: How does the RAZR2 differ from carrier to carrier? Article