Slashdot Mirror
Motorola Introduces Android Phones, Social Software
ruphus13 was among the readers sending word of Motorola's Android handsets yesterday, along with a "socially aware" application layer called MotoBlur. The Motorola Cliq is expected in a few weeks. T-Mobile is Motorola's carrier partner in the US. A second Android phone will be marketed in other countries under the name Dext. Reuters called the market's reaction to Motorola's announcement "muted." "Dr. Sanjay K. Jha, Co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of the company's Mobile Devices division, unveiled Motorola's Android platform play. ... Key to both of the phones, and key to Motorola's overall Android strategy, is a new interface and application layer called MotoBlur. It's focused on 'a single stream' for social networking features, software updates, messages, syncing, e-mails, videos, photos... The Cliq phone has a 5-megapixel camera, slide-out keyboard, 24 frame-per-second video capabilities, GPS, a headphone jack, an advanced browser from Google, integrated Exchange service, and Google roaming services including Google voice search, access to maps, Google calendar, and more. It also provides one-click access to Android Market and the thousands of Android applications there."
I can't say I'm surprised. After the RAZR fad passed and the Q flopped, Motorola had very few alternatives to turn to; Windows Mobile wasn't one of them. This could be their great restart, and I'd really like to see them make a strong comeback into the market.
Maybe they could set another first and make the Android flip-phone (like they did with the MPX200)...?
Unfortunately, Google's mission "Don't be evil" fundamentally conflicts with Verizon's "Be evil".
Disclaimer: I work for Motorola. I'm giving up mod points to post this, as I think some people would consider it a conflict of interest if they knew.
That said, I've been long awaiting this change. I like the feature set - it approaches a consumer class camera (5 MP, 24 Hz video). It looks very functional, very usable. I'm not usually one to get excited about phones, but this looks quite good.
I've heard a lot of people bemoan the proprietary state of cellphone systems. Well, here's your chance to buy a Linux based phone, and show the manufacturers what you *really* want.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
I would not trust Motorola to maintain the cloud services behind MotoBlur for very long. Neither phone manufacturers nor service providers, in my experience, do a very poor job in follow-through for software and software-based services (Apple, for the most part, excepted; RIM as well.) The strength of the Android platform has been that Google is providing those services, and Google is interested in continuity, long-term relationships with their customers, etc.
Trying to take the Google out of Android and making it a "custom brand" is a confidence-killer for me. The Samsung phone is more promising.
YOU LIE!!!!
Save the Music; Save the World at http://www.TuneTriever.com (Our latest Android game)
The Razr was an innovative phone when it was released, no one else had a phone like it (similar to the iPhone when it was released). It was copied and mimicked ad-nauseam by a number of cell phone manufacturers. Motorola's problem is that they rode the Razr wave all the way back to the beach before they refocused any attention on R&D and their upcoming product portfolio. I worked for Moto Mobile Devices for 4 years, and towards the end, all the big wigs were telling us we had nothing in our 3G GSM product pipeline, and that's when I made the decision to leave. The Cliq, while seemingly a nice device that appears to at least somewhat compete with the iPhone, is by no means groundbreaking. It may help Motorola to start selling cell phones again, but I doubt it will bring them anywhere near the level of success enjoyed during the Razr centric times. To see them back on top, Motorola will have to continue delivering phones that best the Cliq and drive the market.
The sad thing is, Apple is repeating exactly the same mistakes it made in 1984/85.
Back then, Philips and Sony came to Apple and asked about licensing MacOS. Jean-Louis Gassee told Jobs that Apple was so far ahead, the others would never catch up. So they kept an ironclad control over the Mac OS. And the entire rest of the industry went with DOS, and then Windows... and even though both were inferior, with Apple vs the entire rest of the industry, the end result was inevitable, and Mac OS became a tiny niche product.
Apple may be able to beat RIM at the smartphone game, but they'll never beat RIM, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Samsung and Sony together, not in the long run. The iPhone will become the niche, and Android will become the 90%.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak