Motorola have announced at 3GSM that they are partnering with Microsoft to enable their future mobile music phones to synchronize seamlessly with PCs, play all Microsoft music formats, and "provide mobile handset offerings that are tailored for discovering and acquiring music over an operator’s 3G network."  In other words, you can forget any hopes of future Motorola/Apple partnerships, like the heavily criticized Motorola ROKR. Future Motorola music phones will be firmly Microsoft affairs.

 

Motorola's partnership with Microsoft is big news, coming as it does after all the hype of the ill-fated Motorola ROKR and Motorola's partnership with Apple.  Whether the new partnership with Microsoft is any more successful, only time will tell, but it does seem as if Motorola have some big plans up their sleeve. More details of what you can expect form Motorola and Microsoft's partnership after the jump.

Motorola's music handsets will add support for Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM), Windows Media Audio (WMA), the enhanced Windows Media Audio Pro codec and Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). These technologies will give consumers the maximum flexibility and options when purchasing and playing back their digital music.

Forthcoming Motorola music handsets will enable seamless connectivity to Windows®-based PCs via the USB 2.0 high-speed protocol. By supporting MTP, Windows Media Player will automatically recognize Motorola handsets and enable users to quickly and easily sync their music from their PC to their phone. Music acquired from any pay-per-download or subscription store using Windows Media technology will transfer and playback on Motorola handsets.

In addition to making Motorola handsets interoperable with PCs, Motorola and Microsoft plan to provide mobile handset offerings that are tailored for discovering and acquiring music over an operator’s 3G network. Incorporating the efficient encoding capabilities of the WMA Pro codec, this rich music offering will provide operators with handsets optimized for efficient music downloads over a 3G network. Consumers will also benefit from quick and easy access to high quality music on the go.

Motorola began shipping Microsoft technologies on select handsets in 2005, and plans to offer Windows Media-enabled music experiences on multiple handsets worldwide in the second half of 2006. Support for over-the-air delivery capabilities and WMA Pro is expected to follow suit in 2007.