Motorola’s Jha: We Want to Make Fewer Android Devices, Carriers Don’t Want Seven Stock Android Devices on Their Shelves
The folks at The Verge sat down with Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha here at CES and he had a couple of interesting quotes that might ruffle a few feathers. Firstly, he said that Motorola wants to make fewer Android devices each year. I see nothing wrong with that as OEMs do tend to over-saturate the market. By cutting down on the amount of devices they have out they are able to focus their marketing efforts and budgets better for each carrier.
The real interesting quote, though, was this: “Verizon and AT&T don’t want seven stock ICS devices on their shelves.” For OEMs, having skinned devices helps them differentiate themselves from competition but he claims that carriers need to differentiate their own stock, too. I imagine that is true, to be honest.
Having stock Android devices is great but if you get the same skin and set of features from all OEMs then carriers might not be able to sell through stock of several different phones. It comes down to consumer need, too. Some consumers might not like stock Android and since Android is a big part of carriers’ smartphone lineups they couldn’t afford to alienate a large batch of their consumers.
I’m sure there are other reasons but that’s what the game has come down to these days. We do hope that Motorola eventually comes to market with another stock Android device but don’t be surprised if they don’t. Let’s hope their new owner urges them to do it anyway. [via The Verge]