“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.
