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View Full Version : Motorola: Getting Its Groove Back


Jon Westfall
08-09-2005, 06:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2005/di20050728_142683.htm?chan=tc' target='_blank'>http://www.businessweek.com/innovat...683.htm?chan=tc</a><br /><br /></div><i>"It's a muggy Friday morning in mid-July and a group of Motorola designers are gathered on the 26th floor in the company's downtown Chicago design center. They're looking over prototypes for a new mobile phone when CEO Edward J. Zander pokes his head in the door: "Can I come in?" Dressed casually, in jeans and a polo shirt, he quickly gets down to business. The models on the table are for the Q, a phone with a full qwerty keyboard designed to compete with the wildly popular BlackBerry, from Research in Motion"</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Motorola.jpg" /><br /><br />Our sister site, Smartphone Thoughts, posted on this article and we thought that the PPC crowd might find it equally as interesting. Apparently Motorola is aware that they need to be just as cool as some other phone manufacturers (Because I know personally, I take into account how hip a company is when I buy their products :roll: ), and have been coming up with some new hotnesses to pump up the bottom line (Scary, but it seems to be actually working). The article is a bit long, but you'll find a few tidbits in it, including the reason the Mpx was nixed. If you guessed that it wasn't marketable to children wanting ringtones and overpriced games, you're on the right track...

don dre
08-09-2005, 07:15 PM
well, outside the tech world, a phone is as much a fashion accessory as a useful device. th emoney is in the mass market not the niche market (well, the kind of money motorola needs). with taht said, I recently Purchased two RZR phones for my parents (retired) on Cingular (free). As you mhave guessed, my parents aren’t the ones to flash their new gadgets. However, they both like the RAZR. Why? It’s lightweight but the buttons and screen are big enough for them to see. More than anything else and unlike any other Motorola product (I initially typed problem by accident) it works. All Motorola phones I’ve owned or my friends have owned have been problematic in some way. Usually reception, ring volume, call volume, etc. However the RAZR seems to have none of these problems. So, it’s not only style but quality has FINALLY improved for Motorola and the are off my boycott list.

dorelse
08-09-2005, 07:41 PM
I really like the SLVR...says in the article its due out this fall...can't wait!

ale_ers
08-09-2005, 08:17 PM
"He considered the ideas, particularly the MPx, examples of conventional thinking. "If we can't innovate, forget it..."

Does anyone else find this line troublesome? The MPx was very unconventional and innovative where as the Q is just a thin Blackberry.

Granted the MPx had tons of problems, but if they had spent time fixing these problems instead of figuring out how to shave some bulk off a blackberry, they would have had something.

Don't get me wrong, I think these new phones are very stylish. But that is what they are: stylish. Not unconventional or innovative.

don dre
08-09-2005, 08:35 PM
I believe what is innovative is what is inside. whatever they did, it seems to work better than most phones.

Don Tolson
08-09-2005, 09:04 PM
I seem to remember seeing a picture somewhere (maybe it was engaget.com) with the RAZR sporting Windows Mobile 5.....

For me, that would be an immediate sale!

DaleReeck
08-09-2005, 11:15 PM
well, outside the tech world, a phone is as much a fashion accessory as a useful device. th emoney is in the mass market not the niche market (well, the kind of money motorola needs). with taht said, I recently Purchased two RZR phones for my parents (retired) on Cingular (free). As you mhave guessed, my parents aren’t the ones to flash their new gadgets. However, they both like the RAZR. Why? It’s lightweight but the buttons and screen are big enough for them to see. More than anything else and unlike any other Motorola product (I initially typed problem by accident) it works. All Motorola phones I’ve owned or my friends have owned have been problematic in some way. Usually reception, ring volume, call volume, etc. However the RAZR seems to have none of these problems. So, it’s not only style but quality has FINALLY improved for Motorola and the are off my boycott list.

Yeah, but are the people who are more concerned about a fashion statement the same people who are spending $300-$500 on a phone? The "coolness" factor may be of importance to younger (read: less afluent) people. Therefore, the "coolness" of a phone can be the key selling point of a phone under$100. But a $500 PDA phone has to be more than simply "cool". Unfortunately, companies aren't seeing it that way though.

In your example of the RAZR, it may have a coolness factor, but it also is good technology. Good phone, good screen, bluetooth and thin. That's why you bought it, not because it was cool. But it seems like nowadays when a company designs a good product with useful features, it's almost by accident. The "cool" was the key factor and the good quality/usefulness was merely an afterthought.

WyattEarp
08-09-2005, 11:37 PM
Well said DaleReeck. I couldn't agree with you more. That's one of the reasons I haven't upgraded my T68i yet. It may be old but the talk and standby times are hard to beat and its small yet functional.

PocketPC Addict
08-10-2005, 01:15 AM
heh, just yesterday I got a Motorola i730 phone as a gift from a family member and now I see this post. Coincidence? Or mystery of the unknown? :rotfl:

MobilePaddy
08-10-2005, 02:20 AM
I have to agree. I thought the MPX was a brilliant design. I'm so suprised not to see a follow up. Some people will disagree but the MPX was the most talked about phone in 2003/2004 due to its unique design and its potential. Unfortunately, the processor and memory etc let it down but these are problems easily overcome. Its a shock to me that the MPX design is no more.

DaleReeck
08-10-2005, 02:51 AM
I have to agree. I thought the MPX was a brilliant design. I'm so suprised not to see a follow up. Some people will disagree but the MPX was the most talked about phone in 2003/2004 due to its unique design and its potential. Unfortunately, the processor and memory etc let it down but these are problems easily overcome. Its a shock to me that the MPX design is no more.

I agree. I was OK with the processor, but 11MB of usable memory was laughable. Put 64MB of memory into the MPX and I'd still have mine. The ability to use it as a regular (though large) flip phone, then convert to a landscape/keyboard arrangement was great.

WyattEarp
08-10-2005, 03:17 AM
I also agree. The MPx was the first PPCPE that actually made me want to get a combo device. It definately was brilliant in design. I believe the MPx was out-sourced, so fixing it was probably going to cost them a lot more than if it was done in-house. Ashame though, but they wouldn't have made any money if they did fix it. Although it's a great device the market is just to small and the price tag was to big.

MobilePaddy
08-10-2005, 03:47 AM
I dont think the market was that small. Maybe I hang out with too many geek friends but we are all eying the MPX; waiting and anticipating. The price was a little expensive but economies of scale and price deals through carriers would have brought the price down further.

Also, there was lots of talk of a type of mpx razr....*dreaming*...which sounds perfect. Its sad to see thats not going to happen and they are going to come out with the Motorola Q...while nice...I'll be left unsatisfied..wishing the Q would morph itself into an MPX.

d-roC
08-10-2005, 04:44 PM
The MPx was in some part innovative, and in other parts confusing. For Moto, they needed to broaden their base of users, which meant not just specs, but also usability. They could not deliever that with the MPx.

Yes, it was impressive; but it was not innovative. Innovative means either doing something better than everyone else has done it before, or doing something new that makes what was done before look complex. That's why teh RAZR gets many looks from people. People have seen small phones, they havent seen small, thin phones with great battery life. That is innovation.

The Q is another Moto product that pushes that envelope of what can be innovative. It may not have the top-of the line specs. But it delievers in a package that its target market has wanted. If WM5 can deliever on push email and accessiblity, they will have a winner over many BB purchasers; though I admit, not matter how innovative it is, if the price is too high, no one will care except for a few fringe buyers.

MobilePaddy
08-10-2005, 05:02 PM
I guess we all have our different opinions...

To me the motorola Q isnt that innovative, its basically a razr blackberry. Saying that when the time comes for me to replace my PDA, if it does and works as good as the promises are and theres is nothing better out there maybe I'll consider it.

On the RAZR, I'll admit to not having one but I know serveral who do and who arent over the moon with it. It gets looks but the UI is lacking etc..

Other the other hand, I see the HTC universal as very innovative..a slight hint of MPX in there.

Gremmie
08-11-2005, 01:04 AM
A story along these lines was in the Wall Street Journal a few months ago.