They haven't been rolling out the new designs and technology as quickly lately. I was considering the GSM Q when I was searching for a phone to replace my old iPAQ, but when the Tilt was released and it had all the features I wanted at a very reasonable price I decided not to wait. Mom wants a Motorola for her upgrade next month, but all she wants is a classic V3 in pink. That's a free phone with contract, not the high dollar phones they need to be selling to show a good profit. -Jay
I didn't realize Motorola relied on phones for half thier income. I thought they had more sales in network infrastructure. I know they are trying to break more into that area with WiMAX, but that's not taking off as quick as they would like. The handset market gets more and more cutthroat every year. I think they're banking too much on the success of the RAZR. They need to try some new things.
Not surprising considering the way they're squeezing every inch of life out of the RAZR line. Innovate, Motorola! INNOVATE!!!
Yeah, I've said this before. Motorola has been known for iconic handsets, but so far the V3 is still a reasonably good seller. I can understand the reasoning for not discontinuing it, but there needs to be a new, innovative model, and the Razr V9 isn't it. It isn't much more than a V3xx with a few improvements. The public is crying out for a totally new design. -Jay
I completely agree Jay. People still love the RAZR, but Motorola relying too much on it to keep the company flowing is what kills me. Even Samsung (my least favorite phone manufacturer) has been innovative recently. Motorola keeps releasing refreshes of current models. I have to add that the Q, IMO, is not all it's cracked up to be. A Moto savior it's not.
I'm extremely pleased with the Tilt. I'd say that Motorola has to top the Tilt (somehow???) for me to switch, at least on PDA offerings. The Tilt gets great reception. My old mantra with PDA phones was they weren't great at anything, but they did everything. The Tilt is fantastic at almost everything I throw at it. It even preforms well in low signal areas where other phones drop calls. I'd have to say that I am sold on HTC. I don't think I've ever been as pleased with a phone as I have been with the Tilt. -Jay
You're right. HTC is on a roll. I have become a huge HTC fan as a result of my MDA. They really know what they're doing!
the rise and fall of Motorola in recent times has been the V3. it launched their recent success, but they didnt go anywhere with it. its track record and their QC went down tremendously, and word of mouth has spread like wild fire about them being notoriously crappy. I still am confused on how sales would be down though bc despite all of the downfalls the v3 has brought to them, it does continue to be a top seller for most carriers i believe.
Yeah, but its not a $400 phone anymore. A classic V3 is free with contract. A V3xx is about $100. The V9 is $250, and not worth it for the minor upgrades over the V3xx, and the Q is at $300 right now, but not worth it because the Tilt is the same price, and I think a better choice. The BlackJack is $50. The BlackJack II is $100. The Q can't compete with that. It is not worth what they are charging for it, compared to similar devices. Right now their higher priced offerings aren't selling well because there are other devices at over half the price that are competing with them. I think their best move would be to consolidate the Razr line. Discontinue the Classic series V3(the free ones). I think the second best move is to discontinue the V3xx. This would boost the profitability of the Razr line. Of course they still need to work on that new, innovative design for the next hot phone. I think the Razr line has become a lot like the K body platform Chrysler had in the 80's. It was revolutionary when released, but they ran it far too long without a new model and sales were slumping in the late 80's. It seems all they knew how to make were revamped K cars well into the 90's. The Classic V3 is the Dodge Aries The V3xx is the Plymouth Caravelle The V9 is the Chrysler LeBaron. The main problem is whether you get the cheap one, or the expensive one THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME. The LeBaron wasn't worth the added expense over the Caravelle either. They were basically the same car with different hubcaps. -Jay
lol great analogy.. i actually had a 92 plymouth acclaim..not to far off from those..as you said..they all look the same. i whole heartedly agree that their lack of vision is the problem. but despite their lack of innovative devices..and the price difference, they are still chuckin out phones hand over fist...its hard to believe it would be a 84% loss..unless they are investing so much into R&D trying to create an innovative device that they are cleaning out the piggy bank
We can only hope that is the case... They are loosing sales in the meantime. There once was a time that I would not even consider purchasing a phone that wasn't made by Motorola. My first non-Motorola was an LG CU320. The only reason I bought it was because at the time Cingular only had 2 phones that were 3G, and neither was a Motorola. The LG was the only one that had Bluetooth so I bought it. 26 hours later it was in the box and going back to the store because it was such a piece of crap. I traded it in on a standard V3. I then bought a 3G Moto A845 on Ebay to replace it. Very happy with that purchase. My next purchase was my iPAQ 6515. I wanted a phone that had built-in standalone GPS capability. At the time it was the only one that would work with Cingular. Now with my most recent upgrade (This past fall) I bought a Tilt. The iPAQ was getting a bit slow and tired so I needed a new Windows Mobile device to replace it. The GSM/UMTS Q was not released at the time. I might have bought the Q at that time, but they were slow to market. I also wanted to consider the new iPAQ's but these too were slow to market (I don't think they have been released yet.) HTC was well positioned with a fantastic device at a great price. The Tilt has exceeded my expectations of what a PDA phone could do, and how well it can be done. HTC really set the bar high for other PDA phones as the Tilt has excellent RF, better than many phones on the market. In the past PDA phones didn't have great RF or call quality - it was a sacrifice you made for the other features available. -Jay
I think one problem is with the pricing of the razr2 I mean I have had this phone and it is a great phone. And some may say it is a V3xx upgrade in the software dept yeah design not even. I just think people dont want to shell out that kind of cash for a phone.
Motorola has traditionally made good quality handsets, but their designs have been conservative. That's worked fine in the past when most phone buyers were technophiles who looked more at functionality rather than design (with the RAZR they found functionality and design, that's why it was so successful). But in 2008 everyone and their grandmother has a phone, and alot of people buy phones based only on their design. And there's a ton of new handset manufacturers who pander to just that (LG and Samsung come quickly to mind). I was shopping for a new phone with my wife the other day, and she started reaching for some crap Samsung phone because it was "little and red" (she's a used car saleman's dream ). I smacked her hand and scolded her like a 2 year old reaching for an open electric socket, and pointed her toward the SonyEricsson's, Nokia's and Moto's. Anyway, yea, Moto gotta get a better range of designs out there. Not just "little red" ones for women, but also for the technophiles. Moto is the only top-4 phone manufacturer that doesn't have a smart-phone (Nokia: N95, SonyEricsson: P1, Samsung: Blackjack, Motorola: ??)
Yeah, the classic V3 has been available in pink for over a year now, and the V3xx is available in pink too. -Jay
She's got a RAZR V3 classic now, so she's probably going to want something different. We still have a few months until her current contract expires, so there's time to shop around. SonyEricsson has got alot of nice models out now (well, we're in Europe, so different models here than the US I guess) PS- I just saw Motorola does have a smart phone, the Q. I've never heard of it tho. I guess it's not that popular?? Motorola Moto Q
The GSM/UMTS Q is a fairly recent model, and the Samsung BlackJacks are 1/3 the price. The Q is the same price as the Tilt, and I think the Tilt is a far better device. -Jay
The moto Rokr E8 is kinda slick. I would like to see Nokia, moto and blackberry try to make something to compete with the tilt. I like the tilt but I have to buy my phones outright and 500 bones dont cut it for me. Moto Rokr E8 ROKR E8, MOTOROKR E8, Motorola Mobile Phones
Like I said earlier, HTC set the bar pretty high with the Tilt. It has exceeded my expectations of what I'd be able to do with it. -Jay
You know the treo 750 with the WM6 upgrade can run the HSDPA I would take a look at this phone. As far as the tilt goes I think it is just ok IMO. It is still a rather large and heavy device. But to each their own.
They could have made it smaller, but then I think the keys would have been too small. I have large hands, and for me it seems to be the perfect size. I can even navigate the menus on the touchscreen with my big fingers without pulling out the stylus. Even the on screen keyboard is pretty accurate without the stylus. Even though my fingers hit like 5 keys every time I press a key on the on screen keyboard it seems to pretty accurately figure out which one I was aiming for. Folded up and just using it like a phone it fits comfortably in my hand, not like Mom's L2 which feels so small I feel like its gonna slip through my hands. -Jay
I read (I think on Forbes.com but I can't find it now) that Ed Zander was going to leave earlier than expected now. It's sad that this once mighty mobile device manufacturer has fallen so far, so fast. It's pretty obvious where I stand on the subject and I hope Greg Brown can pull Motorola out of this funk. If they could pull off another RAZR-like design coup, that would be great but, as with the RAZR, parlaying it into an entire line (KRZR, SLVR, PEBL and then the various different versions of the RAZR) only works in the short term. Mid-level handsets seem to be Motorola's bread-and-butter so that's where they should put their focus. Have a few separate teams designing a new line of mid-level handsets, have a team designing an entirely new, simpler GUI, have a team to take the newly designed mid-level handsets and turn them into low-level handsets and have a small team working on the next RAZR to bring attention back to Motorola for what they do, not how their stock is doing. The new "RAZR" needs to be unlike anything we've ever seen before. Bring in people from art and design colleges to do it, if need be. Sculptors, painters, automotive designers, ergonomic engineers, etc. They built the StarTAC, they built the RAZR, they can do it again. I think they could also focus on making a phone for older people. Sort of like jitterbug but much, much better. A nice, classic-looking (and I'm not talking brick-phone classic) simple-to-use phone with very good signal, a clear screen and not a whole lot of extras. Sort of like a better version of the MOTOFONE. Then, there's the MOTOFONE. There's a huge market for simple, inexpensive phones and that's it. They need to be pushing that thing all over the place. So, that's my plan. 1. Focus on mid-level handsets 2. Build a new "RAZR" flagship device 3. Build a "jitterbug" style phone 4. MOTOFONE distribution 5. Entirely new GUI 6. Name me, MOTOhooligan, Cheif Mobile Device Tester and pay me a ridiculous salary do "work." :browani:
