“As Motorola Mobility prepares to unveil its first flagship smartphone since being acquired by Google Inc. last year, new details are emerging about the device’s design and Google’s substantial support for it,” Amir Efrati reports for The Wall Street Journal. “The moves could have broad implications across the mobile industry.”
“Google is expected to allow its Motorola hardware unit to spend several hundred million dollars—and possibly upward of $500 million—to market the highly-anticipated device in the U.S. and some overseas markets, including in Europe, said people familiar with the matter,” Efrati reports. “All four major U.S. wireless carriers — AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp., and T-Mobile—are expected to make the device available to their customers this fall, in part because of Motorola’s marketing plans, said people familiar with the matter.”
Efrati reports, “Google is letting buyers of the Moto X to choose colors on the phone’s front and back and engravings, these people said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Ooh.
“Motorola sold about 2.3 million smartphones in the first quarter of this year, or 1% of the global market, IDC said. Apple and Samsung have the benefit of sizable marketing budgets,” Efrati reports. “The two companies spent $333 million and $401 million, respectively, to advertise mobile devices in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media, a unit of WPP PLC. Google may end up spending more money than that on the Moto X phone alone, people familiar with the matter said.”
Efrati reports, “In addition to being sold in wireless carrier stores, the device will be sold online, where people can choose from different colors for its back panel and front-panel trim.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, we got it the first time. “Ooh,” again.
Efrati reports, “People who have seen the Moto X, or were briefed about it, say that Motorola has high hopes the device can gain share in the crowded market.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Waste of money, just as was Google’s buying Motorola Mobility in the first place, but, really, what’s half a bil when you’ve already flushed $12.5 billion?
And, regardless of the ad spend, Verizon will be too busy focused on selling next-gen iPhone(s) to care about anything else this year.
All the best Google.
I’ll pass out flyers at the mall for $10k.
😀
I guess we’ll never know what would happen if Google had spent that $500 million on making a better product instead of advertising a mediocre one.
How do you know it’s mediocre? Have you seen it?
Ballmer can help them sell, he’s a marketing genius after all.
With my humble opinion, Google should R&D different products instead of put its feet in saturation Smartphones. It is too little too late to get into this area.
Samsung, HTC, and LG are being “Played for Sure”.
I think Google contracting their “flagship” Android phones from LG and rebranding them as the “Nexus 4 by Google” says it all. Google can’t bring themselves to sell the phones they make themselves, under the Google brand.
There is a reason why Google has that strategy:
1) The market is already saturated.
2) Goolge embarrassing by not baring its name with Nexus.
If Nexus could not sale, GOOG will suffer brutally.
Smartphone market is a total risk for Google.
Half billion budget…in Google Ads!
I love it that “people who’ve seen it” say that “Motorola has high hopes for it”, which by reasonable inference suggests that it’s only [with emphasis] Motorola who has any (high or otherwise) hopes.
I do believe that fair competition benefits the consumer, but only when the investments of true innovators (presently Apple) are protected by patent enforcement.
Google’s got… high hopes, they got… high hopes, high Apple pie in the… skyyyy hopes….
Too bad their apple pie has worms in it.
Google might wind up with people referring to it as the Motox Botox or some other silly slang.
Then the question is whether it would help or hurt sales.
MDN passes judgement before even seeing or understanding the device. Typical.
MDN-like hubris has marked the downfall of organizations much bigger and more powerful than Apple. Don’t underestimate the hordes attacking the gates.
The battle between Samsung and Google should be *very* interesting. I bet Samsung will officially fork Android.
Fork Samsung! Get to it Google! 😉
“Highly anticipated”? By who? Who exactly is excited about this phone? A small group of hardcore fandroids? Hell, I hadn’t even heard of this phone before today, and I thought I was pretty well informed.
——RM
Spend Google! Spend SPEND SPEND!
Hypity hype hype! A hyped turd remains just a turd. 😀