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Ever see the movie Armageddon where an Asteroid the size of Texas is headed directly towards earth and the unlikely Bruce Willis and company are sent to blow the big rock to smithereens, saving humans from extinction? We thought so.
Pretend that Earth is Motorola, the Asteroid is the economy and Bruce Willis is Android… and that pretty much sums up how grim things are looking based on news reported by PhoneScoop:
- More Layoffs Coming as soon as this week
- 50% of Handset Division could be axed
- Motorola will NOT be at CTIA in April, the biggest tradeshow for handsets
- Only 12 new phones coming this year
- All Smartphones will be Android Based
Android truly could play the Bruce Willis hero part in all this, single-handedly reviving the company. Because the company won’t be at CTIA we can assume their Android offering won’t come until later… which we already knew. While its extremely encouraging that Android will be the sole operating system behind Motorola Smartphones it is bittersweet – nobody wants to find that out under these circumstances.
Say what you want about Motorola but they’re presence in the industry is needed. They’ve been a player for a long time and it wasn’t too long ago that their RAZR dominated the market. In fact, the RAZR is still dominating the market – even from a sales perspective. This is half of the reason we can’t figure out what the heck is going on.
How long can Motorola stay afloat? We recently saw Palm, a company also believed to be on its deathbed, receive $100 Million dollars in financing. They then announced the Palm Pre and Palm WebOS and analysts are now saying they are in a position to be one of the three dominant mobile operating systems of the future. While a turnaround like that isn’t likely, I’m praying Motorola lasts long enough to launch a couple Android offerings and revive the company. If they can somehow manage to get their wares on Verizon or AT&T, they could really, really be in luck.
But its also about timing. By Christmas 2009 it may, unfortunately, be too late. Keep in mind that the bulleted points above are merely heresay at the moment but we’ll keep you updated with the latest.
Except Bruce Willis dies on the asteroid at the end without ever seeing what he saved. Rethink that analogy for the sake of Android please. ;-)
but his “cupcake” lives on and create more little “androids” on “motorola”
With Ben Affleck…just remember that.
Motorola published her Phones to late. The People want new things…. New President, new Blackberrys and even the new Android OS. HTC wait only with new Models because he want let the T-mobile G1 a chance.
I like Motorola but the Time is over….
Dont forget next year 2010 the suppliers contracts from Apple ending. So Apple
will probably present a new Iphone, maybe this Summer.?… The Time is over for Motorola,bad Company Management.
“If they can somehow manage to get their wares on Verizon or AT&T…”
Motorola could easily “manage” to get their wares onto both of these carriers: all it takes is the courage to buck “the way we’ve always done it” and sell reasonably-priced, unlocked phones (sound like anyone we know? *cough*Kogan*cough*) with GSM/UMTS radios (for AT&T) and CDMA/EVDO for Verizon. AT&T seems more than happy to welcome customer-owned equipment onto their network, and Verizon has been touting their “any device, any app” vaporware long enough now with no handsets certified yet.
We’ve seen that people will happily pay $200-$300 for a PDA, and soon we’ll see just how well our Australian friends take to being offered an unlocked, carrier-independent smartphone for a price most carriers would charge for their most basic handsets (if you eschew the subsidies). If Motorola wants to blaze a trail, they could try being the first to offer customers the freedom of choice they’ve deserved for a long time.
@dave – unfortunately that “freedom” comes with a price… no subsidies from 2-year contracts and rebates
hahah…so motorola goes to planet mars???
motorola break the armageddon and save the planet with bruce willis..