Motorola will unveil a new mobile video player at CES 2008 next week.
The pocket-sized Motorola DH01 device will be able to play live TV, play on-demand video clips and also programmes saved on a personal video recorder (PVR). It features a 4.3-inch video screen, the option to pause live TV for up to five minutes, and a battery offering four hours of video playback.
The DH01 mobile video player supports the DVB-H broadcast technology which was adopted by the European Commission last December. The technology is also backed by handset makers such as Nokia. It is likely to take another few years for the DVB-H technology to really kick off in Europe, Oppenheimer analyst Lawrence Harris told Reuters.
Motorola has recently lost ground in the mobile phone business as bigger brands such as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson sell more and more handsets. The firm is now looking to expand its business into other types of portable gadgets and associated services.
"I think we'll see more of these types of devices," Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi told Reuters. She added it was not yet clear whether consumers would prefer to carry a stand-alone mobile TV, along with a simpler mobile phone, or an advanced device that combines both TV and calling services.
The Motorola DH01 will go on sale in the US later this month, the company said, adding new TV set-top boxes and a new WiMax wireless device for desktop computers will also be launched at CES next week.