Motorola Sells 500,000 Moto X Devices; Is it an Epic Fail or a Solid Success?

[xeene]

If moto x had same battery as droid maxx I would have had two of them now because I like it's form factor and smaller screen. Instead for same price I got two droid maxx. Moto kind of shot itself in the foot with x.

 

[PereDroid]

You got 2 Droid Maxx for $99???

 

[xeene]

I got 2 maxx for 750 with unlimited data on both.

 

[akhenax]

I got 2 maxx for 750 with unlimited data on both.

:icon_eek:

$99 dollars sounds better to me for some reason.

 

[xeene]

99 x 2 + chargers + data overages + wifi toggling + checking your data to make sure you don't go over = a lot more headache then $750.

Wait, moto x is 99 without contract?

 

[StupidGenius]

I don't think so. People flock to Samsung and Apple because that is what millions of advertising tell them they should do. Motorola needs to step up the advertising game. Like Verizon did when first breaking the OG Droid out on the scene. The uneducated consumer needs to know why they should buy the Moto X over a Samsung device. Until they do Moto will be popular only with those in the know and Motorola loyalists. It is an awesome device. If it had a bigger screen and was a little less at the off contract price point I would have one.

Absolutely agree with this. 100%. I made a very similar post on the Verge.

"It’s all about advertising. In my opinion the TV ads for this phone have been rather poor. The ones with the bearded-guy may be a little humorous but barely feature the the phone. Samsung committed big money to marketing their phones and featuring the device itself. That investment paid-off big time.
Also, making the customization feature a 2-month exclusive to AT&T was one of the worst decisions they could have made. This should have launched on all carriers equally, with a hefty marketing campaign behind it, like Verizon did with the original Droid."

Ok, a bit off-topic, but is there any knowledge if this phone is on a 1-year or shorter refresh cycle?
My contract is up for renewal in February and I would be willing to hold-off getting it for the latest model.

 

[Hugh Jass]

I'll contrast as usual, FAILURE.

It's not the numbers that count in this particular instance, it's exposure and desirability. 500 MILLION in marketing to achieve a half a million in sales? This was to be the phone that brought back Motorola. The game changer. Google's child pumping with Adonis blood.

I yawned through the entire launch and was barking mad it sold for common retail. I think in the industry it's among some of the worst value per sum of it's parts in mobile right now with nothing more than Google to prop it up. Ideas were promising but the execution was terrible. No innovation, no extravagant feature, or even outstanding benefit to buying the X. Lots of media coverage with "this is good but that is awful" reviews though.

Outside of a forum I've never seen a X in person, heard anyone talk about the X, or even comment on a X commercial in a full bar of patrons on a packed night (I work at multiple restaurants and bars daily/nightly). Meanwhile Samsung this and Apple that as usual these days. Why is that? Exposure and desirability. Samsung isn't even that great on the pure experience front but damn if they didn't spend 4 billion in marketing to express their dominance and take the share from the sheep. It got people talking, and that's the proof in their success. Motorola isn't doing it. LG isn't doing it. HTC isn't doing it anymore.

And the market share shows it.

 

[pc747]

I think the Motorola x was overlooked early (unfortunately overlooked also meant passed over). But I believe the nexus 5 may have given the phone new life. The elephant in the room is there are a lot of Verizon customers wanting a nexus but can not get one with out going to another carrier. This is where Motorola can get those late sells by pushing early updates to the Motorola x giving it somewhat of the nexus treatment. The question is can they accomplish that in a month and a half because once we get into the new year you can expect to start hearing Galaxy s5 rumors which may keep people on the fence from buying the Motorola x. Now if Motorola can take this late momentum and build upon it with a solid follow up device then Motorola is back in business, but if Motorola sits on this hoping for late buzz and believing that the current line up of the x and g is enough to go up against what is out now and the phones coming out at the spring of 2014 then they are going to fall on their faces.

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

 

[voodoodaddy]

if they sold these for $300 off contract, they would have sold 5 million of them. same end result but more brand exposure.

as it stands now, moto failed.

I totally agree although I think $300 is too much, I said $199-249. I have no idea what the build cost is, but I figure if Google can sell the Nexus 5 for $349 the Moto X, with lower end specs, has to be below $300. Id buy one tomorrow for $250 off contract.

edit - $221 build cost. $299 off contract would drive alot of sales IMO.

 

[Garemlin]

I think the Motorola x was overlooked early (unfortunately overlooked also meant passed over). But I believe the nexus 5 may have given the phone new life. The elephant in the room is there are a lot of Verizon customers wanting a nexus but can not get one with out going to another carrier. This is where Motorola can get those late sells by pushing early updates to the Motorola x giving it somewhat of the nexus treatment. The question is can they accomplish that in a month and a half because once we get into the new year you can expect to start hearing Galaxy s5 rumors which may keep people on the fence from buying the Motorola x. Now if Motorola can take this late momentum and build upon it with a solid follow up device then Motorola is back in business, but if Motorola sits on this hoping for late buzz and believing that the current line up of the x and g is enough to go up against what is out now and the phones coming out at the spring of 2014 then they are going to fall on their faces.

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

But let's be realistic here. What percentage of the Android buying market knows what a Nexus device is??? Better yet how many even know there are different versions of Android??? Mention KitKat, Jelly Bean or ICS to the average phone customer and they will look at you like you grew two heads. Motorola doesn't need to worry about selling the X to those left out in the cold by VZW. That is a very small number of customers in the grand scheme of things. They need to get it marketed to the masses. That is what will get them exposure, sales and future sales. That is why the Nexus 7 did so good. It was marketed at the masses. Not at the tech community. Look at the most recent commercial with the boy trying to get over public speaking. They advertised the features that appeal to the general consumer. Not to crack flashers. How many people that bought a Nexus 7 even know what a bootloader is?? Again probably a very small percentage. But they did it right. Not only does the Nexus 7 appeal to the masses. It also does towards the tech community who know what it is capable of.

 

[pc747]

But let's be realistic here. What percentage of the Android buying market knows what a Nexus device is??? Better yet how many even know there are different versions of Android??? Mention KitKat, Jelly Bean or ICS to the average phone customer and they will look at you like you grew two heads. Motorola doesn't need to worry about selling the X to those left out in the cold by VZW. That is a very small number of customers in the grand scheme of things. They need to get it marketed to the masses. That is what will get them exposure, sales and future sales. That is why the Nexus 7 did so good. It was marketed at the masses. Not at the tech community. Look at the most recent commercial with the boy trying to get over public speaking. They advertised the features that appeal to the general consumer. Not to crack flashers. How many people that bought a Nexus 7 even know what a bootloader is?? Again probably a very small percentage. But they did it right. Not only does the Nexus 7 appeal to the masses. It also does towards the tech community who know what it is capable of.

You right in not many know or care what a nexus is as far as avg customers. But at this point the avg customers mainly see ads and friends with iPhones and Galaxies. Motorola needs to rebuild their standing with the community first because they done abandoned Motorola. All those that have rooted for Motorola have moved on. We still rooting but with another device in our hands. They are going to have to get us buying Motorola again because we are the ones who are talking to our friends and family. Most of us here we are the ones our friends and families ask when it comes time to buy tech. I have to be honest in saying I may have mentioned Motorola once. And it was to a person who had a razr m. Other than that Samsung, htc, iphone ( and now even the g2) Motorola has fallen off my radar. At one time they had the big battery factor but other oems are doing that now. I guess my point is that Motorola needs to rebuild the confidence that they lost from the community as a result of years of poor decisions. Start there and they will have a foundation to stand upon when they go heavy commercial. Samsung already had a growing fan base before they started spending billions on advertisements.


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[Garemlin]

You right in not many know or care what a nexus is as far as avg customers. But at this point the avg customers mainly see ads and friends with iPhones and Galaxies. Motorola needs to rebuild their standing with the community first because they done abandoned Motorola. All those that have rooted for Motorola have moved on. We still rooting but with another device in our hands. They are going to have to get us buying Motorola again because we are the ones who are talking to our friends and family. Most of us here we are the ones our friends and families ask when it comes time to buy tech. I have to be honest in saying I may have mentioned Motorola once. And it was to a person who had a razr m. Other than that Samsung, htc, iphone ( and now even the g2) Motorola has fallen off my radar. At one time they had the big battery factor but other oems are doing that now. I guess my point is that Motorola needs to rebuild the confidence that they lost from the community as a result of years of poor decisions. Start there and they will have a foundation to stand upon when they go heavy commercial. Samsung already had a growing fan base before they started spending billions on advertisements.


Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

They need to recreate what put Android on the map in the first place. Droid is still such a commonly used term when referring to Android devices. Back when the OG Droid came out everyone HAD to have one. Why??? Because marketing told them that they did. Same with the Droid X. After that they fell off the map. Simply because they didn't have anything new and fresh to market. They continued to make devices with minimal upgrades, no eye catching features and that pretty much looked like every previous phone. Along comes Samsung and their marketing machine. Releasing a new device every year like clockwork. Samsung consumers have become like Apple consumers. They know that they can count on a new version of the Galaxy coming out each year. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if in a few years we don't see lines forming to get the newest version of the Galaxy and Note. If Motorola wants to grab a chunk of the market they need to advertise and target the masses while still putting out solid devices with useful features. The purists and loyalists will already know what is what. It is the sheep that need to be led to the trough.

 

[mountainbikermark]

They need to recreate what put Android on the map in the first place. Droid is still such a commonly used term when referring to Android devices. Back when the OG Droid came out everyone HAD to have one. Why??? Because marketing told them that they did. Same with the Droid X. After that they fell off the map. Simply because they didn't have anything new and fresh to market. They continued to make devices with minimal upgrades, no eye catching features and that pretty much looked like every previous phone. Along comes Samsung and their marketing machine. Releasing a new device every year like clockwork. Samsung consumers have become like Apple consumers. They know that they can count on a new version of the Galaxy coming out each year. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if in a few years we don't see lines forming to get the newest version of the Galaxy and Note. If Motorola wants to grab a chunk of the market they need to advertise and target the masses while still putting out solid devices with useful features. The purists and loyalists will already know what is what. It is the sheep that need to be led to the trough.

The Note line has already started. Quite a few were waiting at the door the day Verizon released the Note3 near me.
Bring back the Droid stealth bomber ads and watch the sales climb again.
The few ads I saw for the X were so vague it was silly, borderline stupid. It was like they were trying to hide what they were selling instead of showing it off? Not 1 shot of the entire phone, just glimpses from bad angles. It like the ones that made the movie Cloverfield also made that ad.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

 

[acousticshade]

Fully agree that they need to market more. Poor marketing and batteries that were too small killed HTC. The one was at the top of the android phone charts for months, but a late release at Verizon & so so marketing hurt them in my opinion.

 

[akhenax]

They need to recreate what put Android on the map in the first place. Droid is still such a commonly used term when referring to Android devices. Back when the OG Droid came out everyone HAD to have one. Why??? Because marketing told them that they did. Same with the Droid X. After that they fell off the map. Simply because they didn't have anything new and fresh to market. They continued to make devices with minimal upgrades, no eye catching features and that pretty much looked like every previous phone. Along comes Samsung and their marketing machine. Releasing a new device every year like clockwork. Samsung consumers have become like Apple consumers. They know that they can count on a new version of the Galaxy coming out each year. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if in a few years we don't see lines forming to get the newest version of the Galaxy and Note. If Motorola wants to grab a chunk of the market they need to advertise and target the masses while still putting out solid devices with useful features. The purists and loyalists will already know what is what. It is the sheep that need to be led to the trough.

I commute to NYC Mon - Fri, and while I walk to the subway, I see several large ads for the Moto X, "designed by you". I remember them because they would show a picture of a cat who had been shaved to look like a poodle, and then a phone that matches the color of the cat, or something like that. I thought that was a crazy ad. I thought it was cool, because it highlighted a phone that is customizable.

Again, while on the train, I see ads all along the top of the train, "not one or two combinations, but thousands. Moto X, designed by you".

Advertisement is the not the problem. The problem is that it may be too late for another Android phone manufacturer to take the thunder away from Samsung. So many of my colleagues at work have Galaxy S4's, even some coming from the iPhone. I don't want an S4 for that reason alone, but I'll be da..ed if that is not one hell of a phone.

Designed by you is cool, but unfortunately the next big thing is already here.