Google to debut Motorola-built 'X phone' next year, takes aim at Apple and Samsung
Google is said to have tasked subsidiary Motorola to engineer a sophisticated smartphone to compete with Apple's iPhone and offerings from Samsung which, when released sometime in 2013, will be the first in-house handset from the Android creator.
Motorola's latest DROID RAZR MAXX HD smartphone. | Source: Motorola
People familiar with Google's so-called "X phone" initiative told The Wall Street Journal that the internet search giant is hoping to create a legitimate competitor to Apple's iPhone and products made by worldwide market leader Samsung.
The sources go on to say Motorola will continue to work on future iterations of its DROID line of smartphones in conjunction with the "X phone" project, with Google's intent being to raise the company's marketshare by emphasizing product quality instead of quantity. An "X tablet" may follow the release of the as-yet-unannounced phone, though no further details were offered regarding device specifics.
Google product manager Lior Ron, a specialist in mapping, is reportedly leading the project, suggesting the phone could sport innovative map features powered by Google Maps. Motorola is also said to be integrating imaging and gesture-recognition features from the recent acquisition of software developer Viewdle.
According to former Google sales executive and current Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside, the company is "investing in a team and a technology that will do something quite different than the current approaches." He noted that there is a huge opportunity in the smartphone arena, and while the cellphone pioneer has "fallen on hard times," Google's acquisition has granted it the resources "to do big things."
Apparently Motorola is running into problems regarding the phone's materials, however, with sources citing issues with bendable screens like those rumored to be announced by Samsung at CES, as well as resilient ceramics.
Despite the setbacks, Google is expected to release the handset in 2013, though no specific timeframe has been revealed.
If and when the project bears fruit, the resulting handset will be Google's first phone to be built in-house after it purchased Motorola for $12.5 billion in May. The Google branded Nexus line of smartphones have been designed in partnership with companies like Samsung, HTC and most recently LG, all of which use the Android operating system. Manufacture is taken care of by the OEMs.
Motorola's latest DROID RAZR MAXX HD smartphone. | Source: Motorola
People familiar with Google's so-called "X phone" initiative told The Wall Street Journal that the internet search giant is hoping to create a legitimate competitor to Apple's iPhone and products made by worldwide market leader Samsung.
The sources go on to say Motorola will continue to work on future iterations of its DROID line of smartphones in conjunction with the "X phone" project, with Google's intent being to raise the company's marketshare by emphasizing product quality instead of quantity. An "X tablet" may follow the release of the as-yet-unannounced phone, though no further details were offered regarding device specifics.
Google product manager Lior Ron, a specialist in mapping, is reportedly leading the project, suggesting the phone could sport innovative map features powered by Google Maps. Motorola is also said to be integrating imaging and gesture-recognition features from the recent acquisition of software developer Viewdle.
According to former Google sales executive and current Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside, the company is "investing in a team and a technology that will do something quite different than the current approaches." He noted that there is a huge opportunity in the smartphone arena, and while the cellphone pioneer has "fallen on hard times," Google's acquisition has granted it the resources "to do big things."
Apparently Motorola is running into problems regarding the phone's materials, however, with sources citing issues with bendable screens like those rumored to be announced by Samsung at CES, as well as resilient ceramics.
Despite the setbacks, Google is expected to release the handset in 2013, though no specific timeframe has been revealed.
If and when the project bears fruit, the resulting handset will be Google's first phone to be built in-house after it purchased Motorola for $12.5 billion in May. The Google branded Nexus line of smartphones have been designed in partnership with companies like Samsung, HTC and most recently LG, all of which use the Android operating system. Manufacture is taken care of by the OEMs.
Comments
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
…the internet search giant is hoping to create a legitimate competitor to Apple's iPhone…
They certainly haven't had one so far.
…Google's intent being to raise the company's marketshare by emphasizing product quality instead of quantity.
They're like raptors. Took 'em 65 million years, but they're learning.
Apple just needs to keep fighting with the Lysine Contingency.
Yes, but how long will it take Samsung, HTC, and the rest to realize that they're competing with their OS supplier?
Originally Posted by jragosta
Yes, but how long will it take Samsung, HTC, and the rest to realize that they're competing with their OS supplier?
They'll whimper and cower like the subservient little whelps they are.
The PC manufacturers, the big dogs of the tech industry, have themselves only expressed their disapproval of Microsoft entering their tablet game. They've done nothing else, nor are they even hinting to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
They'll whimper and cower like the subservient little whelps they are.
The PC manufacturers, the big dogs of the tech industry, have themselves only expressed their disapproval of Microsoft entering their tablet game. They've done nothing else, nor are they even hinting to it.
Very little they can do - unless you think they should move to Linux, or Apple should licence.
But yeah, it will piss them off.
Originally Posted by pridon
…Amazon is the most likely acquirer of RIMM. Any major smart phone builder may run into anti trust issues.
What a dangerous game they play.
Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of this hat!
This time for sure!
Moto builds better phones than Samsung, HTC, LG, etc... I wasnt impressed by their latest lineup but I saw a RAZR M and was impressed by its size and how it felt in my hand. Moto has built very nice phones in the past, as the only other US mobile phone manufacturer I'd like to see them turn things around.
Samsung probably has a Google-free fork of Android ready and waiting.
It will be interesting to see how much Samsung supplied component content the Google phone will have and whether new features will show up on Samsung phones.
100% agree. Samsung phones are crap. Cheaply made. The Moto Maxx HD is a solid phone and the only one I would consider, if there was no iOS.
I bet you are right. The problems for Android will be huge once there is twelve forks that all start doing different things, then slowly become incompatible.
Originally Posted by quinney
Samsung probably has a Google-free fork of Android ready and waiting.
So something that has no touch controls and looks like it was made in 2004?
Because they can take the OS and then alter it how they please, then lock it down or rebrand it, it's not quite the same thing as when MS screws their OEMs over when they create the Zune or Surface products. In the end I really don't think any Google-branded phone (or tablet) will make a difference.
Acer took in about $17 billion in revenue in 2011 and are #4 in the world with a good chance of being #3 any day now. I would consider them to be a big dog.
Originally Posted by Sensi
You mean whiny Acer? Hardly a big dog.
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
…manufacturers…
All of the ones on Solipsism's list have either directly expressed or hinted at their distaste at this development.
Oh, so now Motorola wants to compete with Apple. I get it.
They must have been competing with Google all these years since they squeezed $12 Billion out of Google.
LOL.
It will be good for Samsung to give Google a taste of its own medicine.
Fork Android, replace all the Google services with Samsung equivalents and don't sell any parts to Motorola.
...And Samsung thought Android was free? Eyes are starting to open. LOL