Motorola moves to push Android in China without Google

Android-based Motorola phones were expected to launch in China in the first quarter of this year.

But last week's cyber-attacks -- allegedly originating from China and targeting a number of Silicon Valley firms -- resulted in Google delaying the launch of the phones as it negotiates with the government.

Circumventing the fallout, Motorola on Thursday introduced its own Android app store for China and a deal with Baidu, the leading search provider in China.

The new Shop4Apps store will be available on smartphones by the Chinese New Year in mid-February, Motorola said.

The phone maker also said that it is adding a feature that will allow users to chose their own service provider.

Android, developed originally by Google, is open source, meaning partners are free to use it even if Google decides not to support it.

Motorola stood to lose a significant amount of business if the issue had it waited for Google to enter the country.

Yesterday Morgan Stanley analyst Ehub Gelblum lowered his estimates of Motorola Android handsets shipped in the first quarter by 500,000 to 1.5 million, which is flat with Q4.

The reduction in handset sales could cost the company $162 million in revenue, assuming an average selling price of $324 for the handsets.

Revenue for the first quarter falls to $5.31 billion from the previous estimate of $5.47 billion, while earnings per share would fall to $0.02 from $0.03.