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Motorola, as of today, has shipped the 50 millionth Motorola RAZR V3. To celebrate the 50-millionth-unit milestone, Motorola and U.S. Cellular are hosting a series of exciting events at the U.S. Cellular store located at 30 North La Salle Street in downtown Chicago. Consumers who visit the store can get a chance to win a variety of prizes, including a free Motorola RAZR. Every 50 seconds this morning between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Central Time, the U.S. Cellular store at 30 North LaSalle Street will give away a Motorola RAZR.

Noted by industry experts as a game-changing feat of design and engineering, the Motorola RAZR measures just 13.9mm thin. The mobile handset’s radical and revolutionary design transformed consumers’ expectations for how a mobile handset should look and feel.

Read more on the RAZR’s history, celebrity status, accolades, and the trend it has started.

History in the Making
The Motorola RAZR launched on the global stage in Hong Kong. The game-changing handset made its U.S. debut with Cingular Wireless and created a sensation among consumers. Since its introduction in the fourth quarter of 2004, Motorola posted an industry-leading performance in handset sales up 42 percent versus fourth-quarter 2003 shipments. And in its second quarter 2005 sales, the Motorola RAZR V3 had sold more than five million units globally, a record that was topped in the third quarter of 2005 with sales of over 12 million units globally. By achieving the 50-million-unit milestone today, the Motorola RAZR has claimed its place as a global cultural design icon.

Celebrity and Fashion Status Symbol
As the “must-have” in mobile communication, the Motorola RAZR has appeared in the hands of celebrities and on the pages of every fashion magazine since its launch in November of 2004. Riding on the success of the RAZR in Silver, Motorola introduced the special-edition RAZR in Black at the 77th Annual Academy Awards in early 2005.

In September 2005, the iconic mobile was created in hot pink – being seen in the hands of Hollywood’s “it” girls, including tennis pro Maria Sharapova. In November 2005, consumers were able to purchase the Motorola RAZR Magenta at T-Mobile. By February 2006, two other varieties of pink were offered at Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless stores across the U.S.

Recently, the Motorola RAZR has continued its course as a fashion-forward mobile device via the new MOTORAZR V3i DOLCE & GABBANA edition. Motorola has teamed with high-end fashion designers, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana to dress-up the MOTORAZR V3i DOLCE & GABBANA with a spectacular gold and silver finish and engraved it with the signature Dolce & Gabbana logo.

Awards presented to Motorola in honor of the ground-breaking RAZR V3 include:

• 2004 Editor’s Choice Award – “Fashion Phone” Category
• CES 2005 Best of Innovations Award – Wireless Communications Category
• 2005 GSM Association Award – Highly Commended Mobile Handset
• Andrew Seybold’s Outlook for Mobility Innovation Award
• 2005 IDEA Winner
• 2005 Wireless Week Excellence Award – Special Recognition Honor
• SID 2005 Display of the Year Award – Silver Award
• PC World’s 2005 World Class Award – Mobile Phone Category
• Laptop’s 2005 Mobile Innovation Award
• 2005 Chicago Innovation Award
• IPO 2006 Inventor of the Year Award

Phone of Firsts
A major accomplishment in design and engineering, the Motorola RAZR V3 leads the industry in space-saving technology. With multiple patents, a combination of metals and new advances such as an internal antenna and a chemically-etched keypad, the Motorola RAZR is now a household name. Its revolutionary design continues to influence and inspire Motorola’s comprehensive portfolio of mobile handsets, as is evident in the Motorola SLVR candy-bar line-up and the new and ultra-revolutionary Motorola Q device, which is transforming the QWERTY experience.

The RAZR has since been emulated by LG, Samsung, and Sanyo. The Q has been emulated by Nokia and Samsung. Let’s just say that we expect the “thin-is-in” trend to stay for a while.

Read [Motorola]