Motorola (News - Alert) Mobility's 4G-enabled Droid Bionic was one of the four smartphones that Verizon showed off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES (News - Alert)) in January to tout its new next-generation wireless service. Three months later, the highly-anticipated handset still doesn't have a launch date. On Tuesday, Motorola confirmed that the wait will continue, at least for another eight weeks.

The electronics maker told the Wall Street Journal that the Droid Bionic will launch with Verizon Wireless (News - Alert) at some point this summer. With the second quarter ending in June, the new handset may likely not be available until 3Q.

A Motorola spokesperson told the news source that the launch is being delayed so that new features can be added to the Droid Bionic.

"Based on compelling feedback since [CES], we are incorporating several enhancements to make this an even better consumer experience," a Motorola spokeswoman said, without adding any specific details on the added features.

The announcement by Motorola comes only a few days after rumors began to circulate that Verizon decided to scrap plans for the Droid Bionic in favor of a rumored dual-core Android (News - Alert) phone, also manufactured by Motorola. Tuesday's report puts to bed the speculation surrounding the viability of Droid Bionic, but it is still tough news for the many that were awaiting its launch. Motorola's 4G-enabled phone turned quite a few heads at CES earlier this year.

Motorola is facing intense pressure to bring to market a highly competitive next-generation phone, which could be the reason for the delay. With the recent partnership between Verizon and iPhone (News - Alert) maker Apple, Motorola can't afford to fail its biggest customer.

Meanwhile, only one of the four 4G smartphones that Verizon introduced in January is currently on the market. The HTC Thunderbolt, launched in March, is the sole 4G-enabled handset available on The Network.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf