GSM-Based Razr Phones Reappear on Store Shelves

Published January 13, 2015

Motorola Inc.'s (MOT) popular Razr phone was back in Cingular and T-Mobile stores this week, making a limited reappearance after the two wireless companies temporarily stopped selling the phones because of a manufacturing defect.

Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA pulled the Razr from store shelves last week after Motorola informed them of the glitch, which cut off calls.

Schaumburg-based Motorola said the glitch affected only a limited number of cell phones that were shipped after Feb. 1.

Cingular distribution centers received a new batch of Razrs on Friday, and those phones were sent to some stores by Monday, said Cingular spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock.

"Not every single store will have new Razrs in place today or tomorrow," Bowcock said.

T-Mobile spokesman Peter Dobrow said the wireless carrier expects to be selling the Razr again this week.

Motorola spokesman Alan Buddendeck said "within a matter of days" the Razr will be "widely and readily available."

Razrs sold through Verizon Wireless were unaffected since Verizon uses a different technology — CDMA — than Cingular and T-Mobile's GSM and the phones are from a different manufacturing platform.

A component in the defective Razrs was discovered to be cutting off calls when the flip phones opened. Motorola was working to fix the problem and said no phones were being recalled.

Motorola shares rose 58 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $21.48 in midday trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company's shares are down more than 16 percent since hitting a five-year high of $24.98 in November.

[Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (VZ) and Vodafone (VOD). Cingular Wireless is a joint venture of AT&T (T) and BellSouth (BLS). T-Mobile is owned and operated by Deutsche Telekom (DT).]

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