Motorola Now 'Cautious' about Partnership with Verizon because of iPhone

[dgstorm]

Not too long ago Motorola was lagging so far behind its competitors in so many areas they practically needed a miracle to stay in the technology business or even stay out of bankruptcy. Then Google brought Motorola the Android OS and Motorola brought the first Droid to Verizon. This partnership ultimately energized a massive comeback for Motorola, and now Verizon accounts for 28% of Motorola's sales revenue. This is up from 13% in 2008. In an investor's report filing Motorola indicated that this has created a 'heavy' reliance on Verizon which could soon be impacted by loss of sales due to Verizon getting the iPhone.

The filing said, “The loss of, or a significant reduction in revenue from, one or more of these customers could have a negative impact on our business." And, Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola added that the iPhone has already caused "some slowdown" in sales since it was released. Motorola also realizes that it was not just the iPhone that caused their 'sales-slowdown', but also competition from other Android OS smartphone manufacturer's like HTC and Samsung. Motorola expressed in their report that they need to remain 'cautious' of their reliance on the relationship with Verizon moving forward.

It is obvious they are starting to make strategic moves to spread their Android devices deeper to other carriers; the Atrix being the prime example. In the past the Atrix would probably have been a Verizon exclusive, but Motorola intends to use it to help repair their business relationship with AT&T before bringing to Verizon.

However, ultimately, Motorola doesn't intend to 'bite the hand that feeds them'. Jha had this to add, “We have a good continuing relationship with Verizon, and they view the Droid franchise as important to them. I have no reason to believe there will not be support,” Jha said.

Source: Android.net via Phandroid and Marketwatch

 

[random190user44]

Very interesting. It sounds as if motorola intentionally put lower ram in the bionic to make att feel better about themselves

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums App

 

[manilaboy1vic]

the bionic def. is not as pimped out as the atrix.. i cant believe they would do that... to vzw.. vzw brought them back into the game..

bionic should be the att..
atrix should be the vzw phone.

they know better.

 

[OZFive]

Until I see that encrypted Bootloader eliminated, I am not really considering Motorola phones. Sent them an email stating it too.

Had a Moto Droid 1 up until 1 week ago. The screen went bad so I was faced with buying something to replace it until my "new every two" is due. I eBayed a HTC Droid Incredible. I would have preferred a Droid X but for that damn Bootloader.

You have 10 months Moto to earn my business back, I will be waiting!

 

[New2u]

To me it seems as though motorola makes it own problems.

They complain about the iphone causing sales problems, yet they release the phone that would most likely be the best competitor for it on AT&T (where the iphone has the most hold). IMO The company will end up back where it came from if it doesn't allow smarter people to make decisions.

 

[jroc]

Yea...its funny that even with the Atrix on AT&T, Moto doesnt have a new phone out right now on Verizon.

If Moto was so worried about iPhone competition on Verizon, it shoulda put the phone that was gonna be ready sooner on Verizon then.

 

[Stelv]

Moto continues to make the wrong moves. What will they fail at next?

 

[ntrddragn]

If they want to increase their sales, they should focus on the HARDWARE which they are great at and leave the OS development to Google and the android devs community. vzw didnt 'energized' their sales. They always had moto product at vzw before. It was the D1 hardware and 'Google' experience (vanilla) that 'energized' their sales.

 

[jayman350]

Moto continues to make the wrong moves. What will they fail at next?

how about releasing the Xoom without SD card support, no flash, and whatever else comes out about it.... oh yeah and the $800 price tag. Its a shame too, the Xoom looks really nice, but the fact that it has these issues makes it very hard to justify dropping $800 on a tablet that is not fully functional

 

[New2u]

Moto continues to make the wrong moves. What will they fail at next?

how about releasing the Xoom without SD card support, no flash, and whatever else comes out about it.... oh yeah and the $800 price tag. Its a shame too, the Xoom looks really nice, but the fact that it has these issues makes it very hard to justify dropping $800 on a tablet that is not fully functional

Yeah that's something you should have taken care of before release, and if you couldn't get it done by release.. push the release back and let everyone know that you did it because you wanted a complete product to come out, not 1 that was half finished.

 

[johnomaz]

Until I see that encrypted Bootloader eliminated, I am not really considering Motorola phones. Sent them an email stating it too.

Had a Moto Droid 1 up until 1 week ago. The screen went bad so I was faced with buying something to replace it until my "new every two" is due. I eBayed a HTC Droid Incredible. I would have preferred a Droid X but for that damn Bootloader.

You have 10 months Moto to earn my business back, I will be waiting!

I agree. Moto should be worried about themselves being as nazi like about their phones as Apple is. Unless it changes, I will only buy HTC from now on.

 

[IceAngel8381]

Never bite the hand that feeds you, Motorola. And that's exactly what you did!!

 

[sweetbeans]

It was most likely Verizon, who didnt want the Bionic released at the same time as the Iphone 4 on the network. The Bionic would have easily outsold the Iphone, which would have cost Verizon money, since they "bent over, grabbed their ankles, and took a deep breath" in order to get the Iphone on their network.

 

[ITguy11]

I will not purchase another Moto device with a locked bootloader. HTC Thunderbolt, here I come!

 

[bazar6]

This adds to the reason why I'll be looking at the Thunderbolt for my April upgrade, and possibly the Toshiba??? as a tablet whenever that's slated to drop. Moto has some horrible business practices, and I'm gonna buy from a company that doesn't have their heads in their a****, even if it means buying an import (thats one of the things I like about Moto, they're US based)