Piper Jaffray: New Moto X won't draw consumers from iPhone
Despite its novel features, Motorola's Moto X handset is better suited to alter the Android landscape than draw consumers away from Apple's iPhone, according to one noted analyst.
In a report discussing the possible effects Motorola's Moto X handset, which was unveiled at a special event on Thursday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said the new handset isn't "significantly different than [the Galaxy S4 and HTC One] to change the current market dynamics between Android and iPhone."
Motorola's new flagship sports an array of features currently unavailable on any other device. Chief among these is a constant listening mode, in which the phone's audio sensors are always active and listening for voice input from a user. The Moto X learns its owner's voice and can use voice input to set reminders, search the web, send messages, and carry out other tasks.
It also features a number of gesture controls, including a camera that is activated by flicking one's wrist while holding the phone. Inside, it will pack a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with a 1.7GHz dual-core Krait CPU and quad-core Adreno 320 GPU, 2GB RAM, as well as a 2,200mAh battery offering up to 24 hours of life.
Perhaps most importantly, the design of the phone will be a big point of emphasis for Motorola. Built in the United States, the Moto X will offer consumers an array of design options for the chassis, as well as a choice between 16GB and 32GB of storage. Customers can buy the device either online or in store and design it on Motorola's site.
The Moto X is the Google-owned manufacturer's latest attempt at clawing back some market share in a mobile phone segment that has largely left it behind. Motorola has continually tried to keep pace since consumers began moving to smartphones, but it has been outstripped by both Apple and Samsung, which combine to take all of the profits in the industry.
Still, Munster believes the new handset will not be enough to pull users away from the iPhone, which is the top-selling device in the U.S. Whether or not Motorola needs the Moto X to do so, though, is open to debate. Some observers note that Google needs Motorola to cease being a drag on its earnings. Ever since the search giant bought the ailing manufacturer in 2012, widely thought as a move to gain access to the company's patent hoard, Motorola has lost hundreds of millions of dollars for Google as its handsets have fizzled.
In a report discussing the possible effects Motorola's Moto X handset, which was unveiled at a special event on Thursday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said the new handset isn't "significantly different than [the Galaxy S4 and HTC One] to change the current market dynamics between Android and iPhone."
Motorola's new flagship sports an array of features currently unavailable on any other device. Chief among these is a constant listening mode, in which the phone's audio sensors are always active and listening for voice input from a user. The Moto X learns its owner's voice and can use voice input to set reminders, search the web, send messages, and carry out other tasks.
It also features a number of gesture controls, including a camera that is activated by flicking one's wrist while holding the phone. Inside, it will pack a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with a 1.7GHz dual-core Krait CPU and quad-core Adreno 320 GPU, 2GB RAM, as well as a 2,200mAh battery offering up to 24 hours of life.
Perhaps most importantly, the design of the phone will be a big point of emphasis for Motorola. Built in the United States, the Moto X will offer consumers an array of design options for the chassis, as well as a choice between 16GB and 32GB of storage. Customers can buy the device either online or in store and design it on Motorola's site.
The Moto X is the Google-owned manufacturer's latest attempt at clawing back some market share in a mobile phone segment that has largely left it behind. Motorola has continually tried to keep pace since consumers began moving to smartphones, but it has been outstripped by both Apple and Samsung, which combine to take all of the profits in the industry.
Still, Munster believes the new handset will not be enough to pull users away from the iPhone, which is the top-selling device in the U.S. Whether or not Motorola needs the Moto X to do so, though, is open to debate. Some observers note that Google needs Motorola to cease being a drag on its earnings. Ever since the search giant bought the ailing manufacturer in 2012, widely thought as a move to gain access to the company's patent hoard, Motorola has lost hundreds of millions of dollars for Google as its handsets have fizzled.
Comments
Hilarious.
I was intrigued enough by this to go* to an Android fan site and see their take on it.
Judge for yourself: http://bit.ly/143mPWb ;
* For the first time ever, in my life. Had to take a shower afterwards......
The Nexus 4 was $199 on contract and only $299 unlocked. There will be a Google Play version coming soon, so we'll have to wait and see the unlocked price.
Motorola is infamous for long battery life, so that might be another highlight of the product.
Despite the claimed specifications of a dual core Snapdragon S4 Pro, the device actually uses Motorola's own X8 SoC which builds on the dual core S4 Pro and adds two additional cores, which are for natural language and contextual computing.
OK Google Now, can you trade yourself in for an iPhone so I don't get any malware?
Wow! The only way for Apple to be considered innovative is to add a larger screen! What is wrong with these analysts? Can they not take their heads out of their asses long enough to actually pay attention to what they are saying and/or writing?
So Motorola, a company with 1% global market share and that consistently loses money quarter after quarter comes out with a new phone that listens for its owner's voice and Apple is put under pressure to be more innovative by releasing an iPhone with a bigger screen!
How about being innovative with Passbook, the non-NFC technology using app, that probably has more transactions than Google Wallet has had since it was rapidly put together and released to beat Apple.
How about being innovative with thinner, lighter, compelling devices?
Hold on... I could keep going, but what is the point? Brian and others will keep on dinging Apple just because it truly is the only company they can ding to get press coverage. Would I even care if Brian said the new Motorola phone would force Samsung and other Android makers to be more innovative? :-)))
Some of my co-workers are Android diehards. They were so disappointed when the details on this phone came out today, they were acting like it was a funeral lol.
New ideas often sound sooo sweet (remember the MS Kinect- some even emailed Timboy suggesting Apple looking into such a thing-blush); then the dog's meal rears its head.
I'm thinking, I'm hiding behind a stack of cardboard boxes in a warehouse and some monster slasher, flesh-eating killer is out for a snack (I am mostly bones and promises) and I'm trying to phone for help and goothingi wants me to speak out loud. There's a plot for a movie here; not that I watch such tripe.
Time waits for no man and Foogle is no special exception; that park bench is owned by Apple. We'll see from the company that squanders cash like a mad caper through a carnival what becomes of this Mottorocity. Maybe some mad slasher, fleshing-eating monster will find use for it: "Okay Foogle, now find kitty".
Quote:
Originally Posted by BuddyRevell
Some of my co-workers are Android diehards. They were so disappointed when the details on this phone came out today, they were acting like it was a funeral lol.
Serves them right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurpy
Serves them right.
Why? Everyone has the right to like something some else doesn't. Why does it make it wrong?
Sounds good. What could go wrong with that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ToffeeApple
Why? Everyone has the right to like something some else doesn't. Why does it make it wrong?
You're posting on a site dedicated to Apple news. If it's not pro-Apple you're automatically the enemy. The zealots need a haven and this corner of the internet is their home. If you can't deal with that, then you're better off not posting here.
Google or no Google Motorola is doomed.
Motorola just does not have any compelling product anymore. They have no "raîson d'être".
I think their name is still cool. "Motorola"
I remember when they use to make MC6800 and MC68000 processors.
I remember when they bought CodeWarrior, a swiss army knife IDE and C/C++ compiler and frameworks for Mac OS.
I remember when they made the Razor flip phone.
My Verizon FiOS STB is still labeled "Motorola"
Motorola was a fine American company.
Until Google bought it for the wrong reason, bought it as a weapon of evil and destroyed the company.
Motorola should exit the cell phone business and go back to making communication equipment and processors and embedded systems.
They lack imagination, creativity, and vision.
btw, is anyone else creeped out about "constant listening mode"? "Hello there, NSA ..." oh, but i forgot - Google does no evil.