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What do you get when you combine quality hardware, fast software updates and a super affordable price? A smartphone that nearly instantly shoots up to the top of your company’s list in terms of success. That’s exactly what Motorola got with the Moto G, as the company has revealed that the Moto G is their most successful smartphone yet.
The Moto G isn’t amazing in the specs department, nor is it the most revolutionary device we’ve ever seen. But what it does provide is a very solid experience that doesn’t take many bills out of your pocket — only $100 from some places, and that’s without a contract.
Its success proves there’s a market out there for these inexpensive devices that we usually take for granted, and that people are willing to buy a “less capable” product as long as you aren’t asking too much for it. It’s one of the reasons the Nexus line has become so popular over the years.
We’re not saying other devices are way overpriced, but perhaps there’s something to be learned from Motorola’s success. Heck, the company doesn’t even lose money on each smartphone sold. We’re not sure how big the profits are, but even a slim profit on a product this cheap is amazing in and of itself.
It’s funny to think about Motorola’s smartphones and think that something like the Moto G would be their most successful yet. After all, it was Motorola’s original DROID that took on the iPhone and pretty much carried the Android flag after the original G1 had run its course. But that’s the reality, and the Moto G now holds the crown at the top of this storied company.
So what’s next? Well, we’ve already heard about Motorola’s plans to introduce a smart watch at some point this year. Motorola also happened to let word slip that a new successor to the Moto X would be coming our way at some point late summer.
That wouldn’t have been hard to guess considering the original Moto X was a pretty big deal for Motorola, though things haven’t been as certain lately as they were when Motorola was still under Google’s umbrella. For starters, Google sold Motorola to Lenovo for about $2.9 billion. That may or may not have prompted CEO Dennis Woodside’s recent decision to step down. To top all of that off, Lenovo hasn’t fully, publicly detailed their long-term plans for the company.
It sounds like Lenovo is staying true to their word and allowing Motorola to continue on the path they were pre-acquisition, though, so things still seem like business as usual for now. In the meantime, we’re sure they’re out in Chicago (or Barcelona) celebrating this one.
[via Motorola]
Congrats Motorola!!!
But please don’t let the new acquisition take you off this path. Over the past few months you’ve earned a lot of respect from me.
If Lenovo is wise, they’ll read the reviews of the Moto X and see that they were doing a lot of things right and then fix the few things they weren’t doing right.
“It sounds like Lenovo is staying true to their word and allowing Motorola to continue on the path they were pre-acquisition,…”
While I’m sure this will probably happen, the deal has not yet closed, correct? It still hasn’t even been given government approval yet. So how would Lenovo effect Motorola today?
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Somehow, many in “the media” equate an announcement of an intent to sell/purchase with the sale/purchase actually taking place. Lenovo’s purchase of Motorola won’t take place for months, if ever.
For starters. Lenovo has far more distribution networks globally then Google does. So that means Motorola doesn’t have to be limited to only the U.S. and select countries. The chances of releasing products globally at the same time will be much greater now.
Second, Lenovo has expertise in hardware and access to advanced electronics so they will use the best specs on the phone as they can. Motorola will simply need to optimize it really well the same way they did on the Moto X and use the X8 system. And last but not least, the design of the phone. Lenovo is primarily an enterprise oriented company so design isn’t their strong suit but Motorola can probably handle that part better. Especially on the color customization.
And voila, you got the perfect future sequels to the Moto X and beyond. As long as the phone is at a reasonable price and market on a massive scale.
Did you mean to reply to me, because I made no criticisms of either company’s capabilities?
Good and cheap off contract prices is what we need in phones.
That way with Google Glass that $1500 (worth $29.95) dollar price tag is attainable. :-)
This is somewhat misleading since the Droid phones were verizon only and the moto G is sold by everyone. still, its nice to see them make a profit.
I really hope Lenovo keeps Moto’s trajectory. I really think they had the right ideas and right direction with the X. I wouldn’t mind and would think it would be reasonable to open up Motorola to Windows Phone, especially with Microsoft’s plans for WP8.1 (on screen keys, removed requirement for camera shutter button). They can make OS choice just one more step of the Moto X process and it’d be a great option for the Moto G as well.
Hopefully the new version comes with wireless charging.
I’m glad I’m one of those supporters, my mom loves the phone. She showed me yesterday that she had a new update, simple fixes. Awesome support.
Also she allegedly gets battery life that lasts DAYS!!! That’s unheard of even with casual/lite use.
Moto X is the best smartphone. That is all.
The story doesn’t say anything about being best, it says most successful.
I tried the Moto X a few weeks ago, and respectfully I disagree. The X had two main problems that I couldn’t get past. First I really had trouble taking nice pictures with camera. It just didn’t like to focus on what i was taking pictures of, and was especially mediocre in medium to low light. Second, and this was the real deal breaker for me, the voice controls are not up to snuff. I felt like I had to pronounce “OK Google Now” with exactly the same voice inflection as when I did the voice learn function, or else the phone would ignore me. Also at times there was a big lag (5-10s) between when I’d initiate a voice command and when the phone would actually wake up. Combined, these two behaviors would variously cause me to either wait a long time and have nothing happen; or else repeat my command a second time, thinking the phone hadn’t heard me, then the phone finally would wake up and hear everything all once. For example, “OK Google Now, call Dad” (long pause makes me think phone didn’t hear me) “OK Google Now, call Dad”. Then phone wakes up and it turns out it heard everything, and is confused because it doesn’t know how to call a contact named “Dad OK Google Now Call Dad”. I had the phone for about 10 days and I never did figure out how to properly utilize the voice controls. I ended up returning the phone to Motorola and going back to my Nexus 5 – which actually IS the best smartphone. That being said, when the next gen Moto X comes out I will definitely try it. If Moto can figure out how to make it work smoothly every time they really will have a revolutionary device on their hands.
As a fellow moto x owner. Not even close to true.
More like best all-rounder phone. The camera is still the main problem.
I’ve been thinking the G might be a decent Ipod alternative for my kids. A 32Gb option would be nice.
The only problem is Lenovo is a Chinese company and the really sad thing is Motorola invented the Mobil phone.