I've kept quiet recently about Lenovo's unexpected acquisition of Motorola from Google. When I say unexpected, I mean it was unexpected to me. Maybe it's just me, but it seemed that whatever Google was doing for Motorola was heading in a positive direction, and sounded like they only had plans to get better. To me, it didn't look like Motorola was something Google wanted to put up for adoption; it would seem like something they would have wanted to hold on to. At the same time, however, Google didn't really need Motorola as much as Motorola needed Google. Perhaps a sale of the branch wasn't such a bad move after all once Google was able to shiny up that dirty penny.
Motorola wasn't exactly in a good spot when Google purchased it. Much like HTC, Motorola was starting to lose its edge when it came to flagship smartphone devices, away from the influence it once held. Motorola will probably always live on in name (we will never stop having to correct people from referring to Android as just "Droid" thanks to the Motorola Droid's memorable tagline from their commercials), but there was a time where their products seemed lackluster compared to what else was being offered on the market. The effects of offering the Droid line of devices solely to Verizon customers was starting to catch up to the manufacturer, and Google must have noticed that whatever Motorola was doing just wasn't cutting it in order to compete against the likes of Apple, Samsung and HTC. So mysteriously, Google buys Motorola, presumably to help them out.
I guess it really shouldn't come as a surprise that just as mysteriously, they decide to sell them to a manufactuerer that produces smartphones, yet nothing we've seen here in the United States. That in itself might be one of the most thought-provoking facts about this sale: Google and Motorola prided itself on the fact that it opened the United States' first smartphone plant just last year. Lenovo, on the other hand, has made some pretty cool phones but has yet to have any interest in bringing them to the U.S. market. Now we find ourselves wondering just what this means not just for would-be Motorola handsets, but also if this means that we'll be seeing Lenovo branded handsets in the market too.
However, to put things frankly, as the title of my article states I don't really care who owns Motorola at this point in time. The Moto X and the Moto G was what brought Motorola's name back on the map, sure, but both did so much more for the industry than just do good for Motorola and Google; namely, the Moto G was the real star of the show even if it wasn't sold as a flagship. What really sold people on the Moto G was the combination of decent specs and outrageous price (for a smartphone). Taking that idea even further, we have also been informed that Motorola plans to offer an even cheaper smartphone than the Moto G, which sold for $179 unsubsidized, sometime later this year. It's a plan that I hope Lenovo plans to use to their advantage, not just for the benefit of Lenovo but because what Google and Motorola were trying to do was a good thing.
I have mentioned in the past that I would have liked to see some Lenovo products hit the shelves in the United States, and while that still holds true, at this point in time my biggest concern with the company is just making sure that wherever Motorola was already heading stays on track. I'm hoping that Google placed Motorola in the hands of a company that wants to guide Motorola down the same path while benefiting a company that could use a pick-me-up in the smartphone world. As seemingly little as Motorola accomplished last year, they were some of the most fascinating products to learn about and use in my opinion. I was kind of hoping that I would be able to look forward to a similar experience from them again this year.
Readers, what are your thoughts about Lenovo acquiring Motorola? Do you think they'll flop now that they're not (directly) a part of Google, or do you think that Lenovo will be able to guide Motorola in the right direction? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
