Newest Moto Q 9c available from three more carriers

Motorola helped set the tone for this year's CTIA Wireless convention, announcing a day early that its Q 9c and Q 9c Lime smartphones will be available for Verizon Wireless, US Cellular and Alltel Wireless, in addition to Sprint Nextel subscribers.

The Microsoft Windows Mobile 6-powered device gives users the ability to use Microsoft Office programs, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, while also offering a variety of different physical features appealing to business users. The Motorola Q 9c has a 2.4-inch color display, EVDO and Bluetooth support, 128 MB onboard memory, a 1.3 megapixel camera, full QWERTY keyboard, and supports up to 32 GB of external memory.

Microsoft this morning listed the Q 9c as among the first smartphones to get the Windows Mobile 6.1 treatment, and Sprint will be the first carrier to provide its existing Q 9c customers with WM6.1.

The Moto Q line of smart phones has been popular, with Motorola offering several different variations of the original Q smart phone. The Q was the original Moto smartphone; since its introduction, the Q 9c modified that approach to be smaller and more efficient, and the Q 9m has been designed as a music smart phone. Still, the original Q remains popular, exceeding its sales targets since 2006. It will likely continue to be made in the future, with software and hardware upgrades made along the way.

Verizon will offer the Moto Q 9c for $249.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate and two-year contract; Alltel will offer the Q 9c Lime for $99.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate and two-year contract later this summer; and US Cellular has yet to list its cost and availability despite heavily touting its introduction yesterday.