The Motorola situation was baffling, the first generation Moto X, G and E handsets were non-nexus phones finally done bloody right, and as far as I know they flew off the shelves (especially the Moto G)
I know the margins were pretty thin but I don't know how they could consider that anything but a success.
The period when Google owned Motorola was very interesting. The Moto G was a great budget device that I think was killed by carriers who wanted to push $1000 phablets that required consumers to finance them.
This is what really bums me out about Motorola. I couldn't stand Motorola when they were making those "DRROOOOIIIIDDD" phones for Verizon. They always seemed slow, unreliable, and overpriced.
Then when Google took over they really nailed it with the Moto X and the unusually capable budget models like the Moto G. My Moto X wasn't quite as cheap as my Nexus 5 ($450 vs $350) but it still wasn't the $650-800 of the usual higher-end Galaxies and iPhones. The build quality is excellent, the customizations are subtle and unobtrusive (active display, etc), and I've been on Kitkat since shortly after it was released.
But more recently, I'm not as confident that they'll keep it up post-Google. I had to deal with their support team for an issue with another device and it was maddening. I really hope that isn't indicative of things to come, especially since Google seems to be positioning Nexus as more of a competitor in the contract/subsidy market with $650+ phones and deals with carriers.
I really like having a company that makes more reasonably priced (and still not crappy) options but I think I'll still choose paying more over ever going back to Samsung again. With them, you pay top prices but get mediocre results at best.
Agreed. I hadn't been a fan of Moto for quite a while, partly thanks to their association with the obnoxious "DROOOIIIIID" phones they manufactured for Verizon. Overall they just hadn't been impressing me at all.
But when I broke my Nexus 5 I needed a replacement. The Nexus 6 was a bit larger than I was interested in buying and at $650 it cost a bit more than I wanted to pay for a device I was not really too keen on.
Enter the Moto X (2014 version) which was essentially a smaller version of the Nexus 6 for around $450. OS was all-but-stock Android and updates seemed to be almost as fast as Nexus devices thanks to Moto Mobile's Google ownership. Picked one up and it was one of the better phones I've owned. A little while later, I picked up a Moto360 on sale for $125 because I had some "play money" and the itch for a new gadget to play with.
The phone was great but over time updates slowed as Google sold them off. Then my watch started crapping out due to a defect and I had to deal with the new Lenovo-owned support team.
Dealing with that support department was miserable. Google has a bad rep in this department but it's nothing compared to the "new" Moto. It took me months to set up an RMA and get the issue resolved as their website constantly crapped out or failed to work properly while setting up the RMA. Their support techs were either unavailable or unable to offer assistance.
After that phone, their later offerings got rid of the near-stock at a good price that made the Moto X so attractive and as things went on, they continued to move toward mediocrity.
This time around, I bit the bullet and paid "iphone money" for a Pixel. So far, other than the bland design it's been an excellent device. And while I would've loved a return to the almost-flagship-for-half-the-cost of the Nexus 4 and 5, in the end, I found that I'd rather pay an extra $200 for something I use daily for 2+ years rather than suffer the delayed updates and poor support.
IIRC, moto X was the first phone made by the Google-owned Motorola. The devices were made and assembled in the US.
I was hopeful for the post-acquisition Motorola but it didn't quite pan out. The IP salvaged from the purchase was always a big part of the deal so it wasn't really a loss, just not really much of a win either.
I've got the second gen (bought to replace my Nexus 5 when I broke it). It cost me $200+ less than the equivalent iPhone or Galaxy, came with minimal OEM customizations and the ones it did have were actually useful, and the hardware customization options were a very nice touch in a world of black slabs.
The 2014 Moto X was basically the Nexus 5 successor that could've been. It's visually just a more reasonably sized and reasonably priced version of the Nexus 6 and was my first foray away from the Nexus line in several years.
My Moto 360 has also been mostly good as well. It flaked out at one point and I swapped it under warranty but the experience with customer service was a troubling sign of the state of the company. Their website had a lot of issues and I couldn't follow the normal process for requesting a warranty exchange until I managed to get hold of someone who knew what they were doing on the phone.
I really hope they don't start to go downhill now that they've left the Google umbrella because it seemed that they were really turning it around after years of poorly designed and annoyingly branded "DROID" phones.
I hope the next Nexus phone is made by Motorola. I really like the body of their devices. I wanted to get a Moto X developer edition but it was too expensive, unfortunately.
Marketing & publicity plays a huge role. Google doesn't push Nexus brands that well outside US. Not sure how they'll handle Moto. At the price point, it simply blows away phones that cost upto $500.
But, Google/Motorola needs to do a better job in educating people that they are getting almost everything (especially in markets that lack 4G service). There's little reason to look at other brands even if you are willing to spend twice as much.
Nexus phones/products have always been made by external partners (HTC, Samsung, LG, etc...), none of which have ever been Motorola. Why does the Moto sale affect the Nexus line?
Motorola are losing much money right now, they are rolling the dice on the Moto X launch that's coming up. Google will make a huge marketing push for that one.
LG, Sony and HTC are making modest amounts of money on phones. HTC has nosedived to that level and the other two have turned around losses to be there. They need to do better, but they have little reason to pack it in.
Motorola still sells great phones. Android doesn't have high system requirements and computing power has dramatically increased, become cheaper, and more energy efficient in the past few years, it's not too difficult to build a long-lasting and great phones anymore, which is bad for phone manufacturers because they rely on people purchasing phones frequently.
Even though I'm very tempted to purchase a Moto G or E I can't help but to stick to the Nexus phones though. If HTC or Motorola would just sell phones without custom software and pre-installed applications and would have a 3 year update policy, only then would I purchase from them.
I have no problems installing custom ROMs to keep a phone up-to-date but I really shouldn't have to.
Well, the Moto X and the Nexus 5 are now indeed the same price.
Motorola did have several major glitches with the Moto X launch: price too high, quality control issues at the assembly plant, mediocre camera software, customization limited to AT&T contracts.
By the time they'd fixed those problems, they'd missed the boat. I bought my Moto X a few weeks ago and it's the best phone I've ever seen, but all the buzz has moved elsewhere.
I hope for their sake that Motorola get the launch of the forthcoming X+1 right, because they make a very strong line of phones and I'd love to see them succeed.
Hardly any consumers know about the Nexus line. I'd say that's the last thing an Android OEM should be worried about. The biggest problem is consumer awareness (the same problem the Nexus line faces), especially when the carriers are in control, like in the US.'
Unfortunately, using Samsung's approach of overwhelming the public conscious with advertising isn't feasible for a lot of smaller OEMs, who don't have the sort of capital necessary to do that. However, signs of hope are developing, if you take an ultra-lean approach to producing and selling the phone[0].
Remember, Moto was the first company to release an Android phone. And due to Google aquisition it got a lot more balls and had the guts to release again fantastic phones like Moto X and Moto G. Also the Nexus 6.
Lenovo would be stupid to kill the name ( like MS did with Nokia). Hell, I bet the Lenovo guys will stop selling any phones under Lenovo name, and put all the money on Moto brand.
To be fair, they never released a CDMA Nexus. I could've personally moved half a dozen if they had. Instead, Motorola sold 3 Droid 1s and 3 locked-BL Droids.
I know the margins were pretty thin but I don't know how they could consider that anything but a success.
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