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It isn’t every day that all the pieces fall in place to virtually single-handidly save a company from shuttering its doors, but this is exactly what happened when Motorola brought the Android operating system to Verizon Wireless. Just a little more than a year later Motorola has been riding a huge wave of success thanks to their Android smartphones appearing across all carriers, but with 28 percent of their business getting done through Verizon a reliance on the network is still obvious. In a Bloomberg report, Motorola admitted in the report that the company would need to be cautious in their dependence on Verizon going forward in light of slowing sales anticipating and coinciding with the release of the iPhone for the big red network.
The obvious first attempt at bringing high-ticket smartphones to other carriers (something normally reserved for Verizon’s bands) is the Motorola Atrix 4G for AT&T, the dual-core smartphone capable of transforming more or less into a fully functional laptop. In days past we might have expected to see this handset as a Verizon exclusive, and though VZW will get a phone similar in power, the Droid Bionic will still fall slightly short of the Atrix in terms of specs and hardware.
It might be stating the obvious, but the need to spread out their goods among carriers is an issue the company will need to tackle this year and moving forward. Motorola hasn’t taken the same approach as companies like Samsung, which aim to provide the same high-end smartphone experience to users on all carriers. Perhaps Moto will move in this direction as well, but only time will tell.
[via GigaOM]
Droid Pro on sprint I am in. I miss my treo form factor
Motorola is a…DUD… I wouldn’t take one of there smartphones for… FREE… Especially on VERIZON..
@loydster I’m with you 100% on the form factor. I’m an HTC snob though so the only even considerable option that way is the ChaCha, and I’m not impressed with it. But I have a BB 8330 and a Treo 700p just for that candybar-style QWERTY. The DROID Pro is pretty perfect for my needs but Motorola left a bad taste in my mouth and I don’t look back.
All in all, I wish HTC would just perfect that Blackberry form factor with Android or at least the Palm Pre style. I want a keyboard, but I just don’t want to have to flip the phone around to get to it.
Sorry so OT
I suppose hopping to other carriers is a solution to the “iPhone problem”, but Moto should have been smart enough to plan ahead and tried to gobble up more market share by being on all four carriers to begin with.
@Richard – I am currently running the X and it’s a kick a$$ phone. Say what you want about the locked bootloader and the horrible Blur skin (I rooted and installed the Liberty ROM which took care of Blur), but this device flies. The phone is a beast – you may not like how Motorola or even Verizon handle their customers, but you can’t say too much bad about the X strictly from a device standpoint
Dumb move by moto IMHO. I got rid of my iPhone because att sucked so bad! Now next gen phones are coming out, it’s bye bye Droid, hello thunderbolt because moto has directed their efforts at atrix / att
I do not understand why they gave the Atrix to AT&T. Dumb. All that iPhone competition they are worried about is because of AT&T and so they put their flagship on a sinking ship. Dumb.
@ Richard same here man
lol true I think they did that is to get back at Verizon for agreeing to sell iPhones which would cut into Moto’s profits so they would help At&T a bit by giving them a high end phone that could become flag ship phone but gave Verizon a lesser version to get back at them.
Bionic OR the Atrix on TMO and I’m in.
Just because they were finally able to sell something nice to someone other than Verizon, doesn’t mean the love between them is over.. The Droids were Verizons iPhone when they couldn’t have an iPhone.. However, all those people who fought to bring Apple to Verizon for years, finally got their wish.. and then Motorola designs this platform. I am sure they pitched the Atrix to Verizon as well, and they waffled because of the god phone.. then AT&T got their pitch, and they said “ok, but we want exclusive for a while”. Motorola is doing what they should be doing. Designing devices, pitching them to carriers, and making sales. Verizon will continue to buy things they think they can sell. The Droid “branding” is out there.. people have heard of it, and you can bet it will continue. They both benefited, and will continue to benefit in the future.
@Mehdi, which is even more retarded because iPhone5 is close to being unveiled after which Atrix will be all but forgotten. If anything Moto should have put the Atrix on T-Mobile and Sprint, where it easily would have been THE number 1 phone to have.
@SIGINT sadly but true I believe the screw jobs still goes to Verizon due to getting the lower end of the stick but Sprint and T-Mobile is still getting screwed by them overall I think that T-Mobile and Sprint will never get high end Moto phone probably becuase of the amount customers they have but T-Mobile is saved by HTC while I can see that Sprint is dying quickly At&T has to use this to make them better because if they fail with the Atrix or the next iPhone well they are screwed.
This whole carrier specific phone thing is a bad joke and it seems Samsung is the one laughing all the way to the bank. Motorola and others need to realize that they can make more $ by putting their top handsets into the hands of customers from every carrier.
Motorola’s global presence is pretty weak globally too when it comes to Android phones.
Who let the dogs out?? ROOF! The new 4G Thunderbolt is proof that Motorola needs to diversify their bank account. I will say I am exrtemely impressed with the XOOM! If you have not had a chance to demo it – at least check it out before commenting.
Reading these comments I would say about 90% of you have no business prowess whatsoever.
Well, I don’t get it. It just seems nuts to me to put out something like the Atrix 4G with the great feature of it being able to be transformed into a laptop, and then only make it for AT&T customers and not offer a version for Verizon customers.
Think of all the marketing and advertising that ends up peaking the interest of someone like myself about the new product — but since I’m a Verizon customer, all those marketing and advertising dollars are wasted on me.
For that matter, same thing with the Xoom tablet. If it’s a great product for Verizon customers it should also be a great product for AT&T customers.
In my opinion Motorola messed up adding boot locks but if you think about the small percentage of people who care it doesn’t affect them. As for new iPhone model coming out its most likely not going to be 4g.
@Bela – then let’s help them learn something about the business. Motorola or any handset co. would love to sell the same product to all the carriers but the carriers are buying so it is their decision. They demand a period of exclusivity and the strength of the handset and length of exclusive determines how hard they promote the phone. Carrier advertising, store placement, amount of subsidy, staff training and incentives drives volume. Mobile operators compete with each other so they have no interest in all selling the same handsets. This would drive them into rate plan wars which they will do anything to avoid.
@steve, now do you get it?
:)
I don’t think its a bad move at all. They got their cash back to where it belonged by playing VERY nice with verizon, which needed an iPhone killer, and the Droid was it. Now, both sides are moving on. Obviously, Verizon is hot to push the “new” old phone. So moto will go and EXPAND, not switch. Droid is a name they can only use on Verizon anyway, it was Verizon that made the deal with Lucasarts. I think the Atrix is the future of computing. Computers will move from the hip up, not from the desktop down.
@Mark, while that’s how it’s traditionally done, Samsung has met with a lot of success selling versions of the same phone to all carriers and doing their own advertising. I think it would be a strong win for the consumer if manufacturers competed for who made the best handset, while carriers competed on the basis of plans.
@mb…. Honestly there is nothing SPECIAL ABOUT THE DROID X ESPICALLY ON VERIZON… It is nothing but another 3g device the HTC EVO 4G BITCH SLAPS THE DROID X EVERY DAY… NO QUESTIONS ASKED.. And Sprint PIMP SLAPS VERIZON
@Richard Yarrell – You’re either a Sprint rep or an idiot. Neither of your comments were worth posting. I don’t even know why I’m wasting my time with you, but I get tired of comment sections getting filled up with useless blather that barely address the topic at hand (and in a manner that is both uninforming and crude, nonetheless).
With that said, the Atrix seems like an excellent phone. I’m currently on AT&T, so I’m tempted to go with the Atrix, but I get terrible AT&T reception at home. Plus, I don’t want to be locked into HSPA+ for 2 years. So I’m considering switching to Verizon (maybe Tbolt, if they ever release it and if it’s not $300). Otherwise I’ll wait for the Droid Bionic…okay, less RAM and no docking/laptop, but I’m not interested in the docking function and I’d rather have an LTE antenna than the extra 256MB of RAM.
@Dennis, post #11
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Great post. Well said. Let some Android greatness be spread around. At first it was more good Android phones on Verizon while the other carriers had 1, maybe 2 decent Android phones.
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Now the Android greatness is being spread around more. It only makes Android that much stronger.
Lol Richard all Sprinted up again on yet another post…like…no love it allllll you want but Sprint has never been rated…and never has been number one…sorry Sprint lover ….insane Sprint lover lol
@JaylanPHNX I couldn’t agree more. What’s the saying? Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. And while they are out there spreading the love between all the carriers, they may want to take a look at the wide open market prepaid offers. The reports coming through are saying more than ever before, people are looking to make the change to prepaid. Prepaid offer cheaper rates, but some of them could really do with having a Droid on their phone selection. Yes, it’s cash up front for the phone, but a lot of us are not on prepaid because we can’t afford something more, we’re just tired of being taken advantage of and not being the ones in control. So go on, Motorola, do us a favor and offer your phones to the likes of Straight Talk, Net10 or any of the other prepaid companies who offer an affordable and reliable plan, but with no real valuable choice of phone.