Motorola to Slow it's Product Releases

[cereal killer]

Motorola has put out new products at a dizzying rate, often leaving many of it's loyal customers frustrated. In September the DROID Bionic was released, two months later the DROID RAZR was released, and this week the DROID RAZR MAXX and DROID 4 were announced. Moto has released more Android phones than any other manufacturer in a very short span. According to Jha, the RAZR was released so close to the Bionic because of the Bionic's delay, but that doesn't explain the RAZR and RAZR MAXX. Granted, the MAXX is only a battery upgrade, but the idea of releasing pretty much an identical phone so close doesn't quite make a lot of sense. A whole other model, yes, a twin.....not so sure.

This is all about to change though. During a roundtable event at CES, Jha announced that the company plans to release fewer new models this year in an effort to focus on its marketing dollars. The CEO goes on to say “A lot of products that are roughly the same doesn’t drive the market to a new place.” Jha also said the company plans to pursue fewer new ideas in an effort to make more things stick. They introduced the Laptop Dock last year and Jha conceded the fact that it was not a commercial success. He plans on refining the product and still believes in the concept.

With the Google acquisition looking to close in the near future, change is happening at Motorola Mobility and it looks to be for the better. We are sure this will put some smiles of the loyal Motorola fans.

What say you the readers?

Via: BGR

 

[gmorgan056]

I guess it's good that they're slowing down, but their still ignoring their client base about the bootloaders. I wish someone would've asked about that.

 

[Dave12308]

Articles like this tick me off because people don't know what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks they are talking about anymore.

Motorola may release a lot of devices in a short period of time, but there is almost no overlap as far as target markets go.

The Razr, for example, is USELESS to me compared to the Bionic. I am one of those people who NEED to swap out my battery.

 

[Stelv]

Motorola has horrible business sense I hope Google fixes them because they make well built phones. I went from hating Moto with a passion to actually liking them....then back to disgruntled again (bootloader). They did a good job on the new blur(less), and the bionic and the Razr for the most part. They are great out of the box phones, and they have been releasing updates pretty quickly. I have the lapdock 100 for my bionic and I think it works pretty well. The encrypted bootloader and the release of the Razr nearly killed development for the Bionic though. I hope we get some more development on the bionic.

I also chose the Bionic over the Razr because I wanted a removable battery, and like the size better. My girl has the Razr and it doesn't sit in my hand well.

 

[Stelv]

...oh and btw this is my last Moto phone if they don't un-encrypt the bootloader, I mean it this time. Moto doesn't care though.

 

[droidbionicmaster]

Wow they finally listen. Seriously they pushed out these phones out way to fast that's why all these issues came up. So hopefully this will fix dropped data issues

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[jcardona1]

Motorola is out of touch with reality, and their customers. I will probably never buy another Motorola phone. Ever.

 

[skennelly]

I still have the DROIDX, but unless the bootloader issue changed I'm jumping ship. I love my GTAB and will buy a Samsung phone when it's time to upgrade.

 

[Cwagmire]

Articles like this tick me off because people don't know what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks they are talking about anymore.

Motorola may release a lot of devices in a short period of time, but there is almost no overlap as far as target markets go.

The Razr, for example, is USELESS to me compared to the Bionic. I am one of those people who NEED to swap out my battery.

That doesn't change the fact that they've still ignored previous models in terms of updates. I feel my droid 2 is worse after their GB update and have given no fix for it. This will be my last motorola phone as well

 

[Jungle King 76]

I don't get the sheet toward Motorola. The Bionic was seriously delayed and I am sure the RAZR was already planned for add end of year release so they had to put it out so they can keep moving forward. As for the MAXXX, what it's the problem? Heavy users may need the extra battery life but average users won't. Apple always releases their phones in different storage capacities so what is the big deal about Moto releasing phones with different battery sizes?

As for the bootloaders, who knows but every where on the internet suggests that Moto is fine with unlocked bootloaders but Verizon says no. Now before anyone questions why the GNex could be unlocked on Verizon, they had more ground to call the shots. In exchange for Verizon getting exclusive rights to the first phone with ICS, they had to agree not to lock the phone down.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[Jungle King 76]

I don't get the anger toward Motorola. The Bionic was seriously delayed and I am sure the RAZR was already planned for an end of year release so they had to put it out so they can keep moving forward. As for the MAXXX, what is the problem? Heavy users may need the extra battery life but average users won't. Apple always releases their phones in different storage capacities so what is the big deal about Moto releasing phones with different battery sizes?

As for the bootloaders, who knows but every where on the internet suggests that Moto is fine with unlocked bootloaders but Verizon says no. Now before anyone questions why the GNex could be unlocked on Verizon, they had more ground to call the shots. In exchange for Verizon getting exclusive rights to the first phone with ICS, they had to agree not to lock the phone down.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

Edit: sorry for the double post, this was supposed to be an edit to correct spelling and it ended up going as a reply.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[Stelv]

I don't get the sheet toward Motorola. The Bionic was seriously delayed and I am sure the RAZR was already planned for add end of year release so they had to put it out so they can keep moving forward. As for the MAXXX, what it's the problem? Heavy users may need the extra battery life but average users won't. Apple always releases their phones in different storage capacities so what is the big deal about Moto releasing phones with different battery sizes?

As for the bootloaders, who knows but every where on the internet suggests that Moto is fine with unlocked bootloaders but Verizon says no. Now before anyone questions why the GNex could be unlocked on Verizon, they had more ground to call the shots. In exchange for Verizon getting exclusive rights to the first phone with ICS, they had to agree not to lock the phone down.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

Yea Verizon tells Moto to lock the bootloader, and Moto says "sure we will go even farther than locking them, we will military style encrypt them". Verizon says "you don't have to go that far..." and the Jha says "no no we will encrypt the hell out of them"

HTC has an unlock tool, Samsung doesn't lock, and I believe LG doesn't lock either. This Google merger can't come fast enough. I think Google is trying to fix the Android ecosystem by buying Moto and making Samsung Nexi.

 

[tgyberg]

Rats, I was looking forward to an announcement for the Droid 4 Maxx next week!

 

[trestevenson]

Motorola needs to take the resources they're utilizing on phone releases and target them on:

1. unlocking their bootloaders and
2. better supporting their current lineup

If they could do this, I'd stick with them. My OG has been rock-solid since day 1, and I really appreciate the build quality of Moto's devices. If they don't release a roadmap of when they will unlock their bootloaders soon, however, I'm going with the G-Nex instead of the Droid 4. And I love having a physical keyboard, but not enough to put up with an encrypted bootloader. :disappointed:

 

[Raverrevolution]

I'm going to chime in that the Bionic will be my last Moto phone if the bootloaders don't get unlocked. I never had a Moto phone until the OG Droid and that thing was a BEAST!! The Bionic hardwarewise is awesome, but development has dropped massively :'-( I'm so jealous of the Galaxy Nexus owners and their roms and unlocked bootloaders. I'm not made of money and it's such a hassle reselling the Bionic and then buying a Gnex. At least my extended battery was cheap....