* Backflip to sell for $99.99 at AT&T March 7
* Motorola shares had closed at $7.11 on NYSE
NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) – AT&T Inc (T.N), the second-biggest U.S. mobile service, plans on March 7 to start selling the Motorola Inc (MOT.N) Backflip, the operator’s first phone based on Google Inc’s (GOOG.O) Android software.
AT&T is the third of the top 4 U.S. operators to sell Motorola Android phones, which compete with the Apple Inc (AAPL.O) iPhone, also sold at AT&T.
Motorola reorganized its entire cellphone business around Android last year, betting that the Google system would help it reverse years of market share losses to smartphone rivals like Apple, Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Research In Motion Ltd (RIM.TO).
The Backflip has a mini QWERTY keyboard that flips back from the screen and an unusual track pad that works like a computer mouse. Motorola had showed off the phone in January but did not say which U.S. operator would sell it.
The device, which will sell for $99.99 after rebates, is the first of five Android phones AT&T said it will sell in the first half of this year. (Reporting by Sinead Carew, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
