Ten years ago, Motorola’s strength in the technology market was well known. At some point, the Motorola RAZR was the phone everyone wanted – sleek, futuristic look… incredibly thin… something which had never been done with a clamshell phone before. With over 100 million handsets sold, it seemed that Motorola’s stock would continue to plunge forward and garner the trust of investors and tech enthusiasts the world over.
Then things turned ugly. We really didn’t hear about any innovative devices coming out from Moto for a long stretch. This cascaded to a significant decrease in revenue, many executives leaving the company to work on competing devices (read: “the iPhone”), and company layoffs in the thousands. Stock prices gradually dwindled to roughly 10% of what they were at the turn of the millennium, and the once powerful tech company faced bankruptcy.
Enter Google Android.
Initially, Verizon supported LiMo (Linux Mobile), a foundation which competed with Android for Linux-based mobile operating system marketshare, but last November, Motorola changed all that with their flagship Droid 1 device for Big Red’s network. The Droid 1 (a gift from the Gods for phone modders) was the first Android device for Verizon, and the first time that I can remember where Verizon didn’t cripple a smartphone’s capabilities with its limitations on Wi-Fi and software.
With the newly released Motorola Droid X’s sales being higher than expected, it seems that consumers have bought into Verizon’s “Droid Does” campaign. In addition, Motorola’s CEO claims there will be a 2 GHz Android handset by the end of this year. Seems kind of ambitious to me, but it’s nice to see that from time-to-time in the tech world. Can’t wait till I’m eligible for an upgrade. 🙂
Android has instilled a new breath of life into Motorola, and hopefully the two companies will continue providing the mobile community with a solid platform-hardware combination at regular intervals throughout the coming years.
