When Google bought Motorola back in 2012, it shocked everyone. We all were expecting Google and Motorola to make great new smartphones, since they were both so good at software and hardware respectively. And what was Google's response? Google said they would work on a few devices, but they bought Motorola mostly for their patents. We will take a guess and say it did not work out too well, since they sold Motorola for $300 million less than a connected thermostat company. Shocking, isn't it? Let's take a moment to look deeper into why Google might have sold off one of the world's biggest telecommunications companies in the world.
Late 2012: Just a short while after Google buys Motorola, Motorola releases their new line of Razr handsets. The Razr HD and Maxx HD are slightly improved with 720p displays and faster processors, and the compact 4.3 inch Razr M puts high-end specs in a small chassis. These phones continue Motorola and Verizon's Droid love affair, just like it has been since 2009. Like always, people buy the phones but they do not make too big of a splash. What made these Droids interesting was that they had near-stock Android skins, which made their software much cleaner and nicer than the competition's. This was without a doubt done with a little help from Google. Motorola already had plans for these Droids before Google came into the picture, so Google hadn't work their magic just yet.
It is summer 2013 and Google finally releases their first product with Motorola: the Moto X. It had surprisingly mid-range specs with a 720p display and Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, but Motorola argued that the specs do not matter as long as the phone does what you need it to do. The soon-to-be released Moto Maker that allows you to customize your phone, and the allusively small body were a few of the reasons why Motorola thought more people would buy their flagship smartphone. We, like Motorola, thought that many people would love the Moto X. Sadly, we were both wrong. The $200 price did not stand up well next to the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, and iPhone 5, which all had noticeably better specs than the Moto X. Motorola also did not have as big of a marketing budget as Samusung to get the word out, so a lot of people did not even know about it. Countless sales and special deals could not save the Moto X, so Google kept losing more money because of Motorola. They had put so much advertising money and R&D money into the Moto X that it was not worth it to keep Motorola. The new Droid line that people only hear about when a Verizon salesperson coaxes them to buy it was also not too profitable, so that did not make anything better. Even with all the billions that Google has, they could not make another Moto X device with Motorola to see these kinds of results again. The Nexus program was not seeing as bad of losses as the Moto X, and even normal people started to be interested in Nexuses because of the Nexus 7. There were only a few, albeit very useful and intuitive, features that differentiate the Moto X and stock Android experience. Google did not have the time and resources to save Motorola, but maybe Lenovo does.
Lenovo does not have much of a presence in the American electronics market. Many business people and consumers love Lenovo laptops for their quality, reliability, and great security, and great trackpads and keyboards. Despite all this American love for Lenovo computers, a big portion of Americans do not know who Lenovo is. Even more people do not know about Lenovo's many tablets in retail stores across America. This will make it hard for Lenovo to put its smartphones in the hands of American consumers. Luckily, Lenovo decided that they will keep making Motorola smartphones under the Motorola name for the American market. From what we have seen from Lenovo's Chinese smartphones, we can say that they do in fact know how to make a decent smartphone. Lenovo's engineering skills and Motorola's brand recognition can get Lenovo into the American market, and possibly allow Motorola to come back as one of the big players in the smartphone landscape. You will see another Moto X sometime this year and probably many more Motorola smartphones, but there will just be someone different behind the scenes.
Comments
Post a Comment