The top three U.S. wireless service providers said on Friday they would start selling the successor to Motorola Inc's Razr phone, which includes a 2 Megapixel camera and a music player.

Motorola had unveiled the Razr2, a slimmer version of its once-lauded flagship Razr, in May amid flagging market share due to a lack of advanced phones.

The company has faced criticism for cutting the price of its original Razr phone too quickly and for depending too much on the Razr, which has sold 100 million phones since late 2004, instead of coming up with new product concepts.

Service provider rivals AT&T Inc , Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp announced plans on Friday to start selling the Razr2, which will work on their high-speed wireless networks, in coming weeks.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, both said they would start selling the phone in September for $299 to customers who sign a 2 year contract.

Sprint said it would start taking telephone orders for the phone on August 22 and will charge $249 to customers who sign up for a 2 year contract. It plans to start selling the device in its stores on September 4.

Motorola