Lenovo to phase out Motorola brand from smartphones

[Nowak]

Sauce: http://www.androidcentral.com/lenovo-phase-out-motorola-brand-smartphones-moto-and-vibe-brands-be-used

Sauce for the sauce: http://www.cnet.com/news/goodbye-moto-rola-iconic-brand-name-to-be-phased-out/

 

 

 

Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola from Google in 2014 will now result in the famous Motorola brand name disappearing from smartphones. Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh confirmed in an interview from CES 2016 that the Motorola brand will be phased out this year. Lenovo will instead use the Moto name for its high-end smartphones, and the Vibe brand for budget devices.

According to the article, the batwing logo will be retained, but the Motorola name will not be. Instead, the Lenovo name will be on the Moto X. Considering how iconic Motorola is to the mobile phone market (the very first mobile phone was made by Motorola, even), you have to wonder why Lenovo is doing this.

 

This also goes against what Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said after Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google. "We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger." Apparently their idea of "stronger" is now completely phasing out the brand and replacing it with their own. Betting that Google is starting to regret letting Motorola go now.

 

RIP Motorola :c

[Kherm]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

NO

PLEASE GOD NO

[abdul94]

That sucks, Motorola had some great smartphones.

[zyntaxable]

My Moto X already doesn't have Motorola written on it anywhere? 

[TopWargamer]

That's a really dumb move by Lenovo. At least keep the Motorola name alive in North America, because everybody knows and trusts the Motorola brand. Rebranding future Motorola phones to the "Lenovo Moto whatever" is not a good marketing decision.

[manikyath]

My Moto X already doesn't have Motorola written on it anywhere? 

i guess they mean it'll become the "lenovo moto x" instead of the "motorola moto x"

 

i can only hope that motorola getting under lenovo doesnt mean my "nearly stock" android experience will turn into "more bloatware than samsung"

[BLCT]

RIP MOTOROLA

[NtB]

But they made THIS!

They're already well known and trusted. Good luck rebuilding that, Lenovo.

[TopWargamer]

That sucks, Motorola had some great smartphones.

Moto will still be making smartphones, they're just going to be known as Lenovo smartphones from now on.

[manikyath]

That's a really dumb move by Lenovo. At least keep the Motorola name alive in North America, because everybody knows and trusts the Motorola brand. Rebranding future Motorola phones to the "Lenovo Moto whatever" is not a good marketing decision.

not only in the states, motorola is making a REALLY fast move as a great budget solution in the -very expensive- belgium.

EDIT: i did a derp, and fixed.

[Nowak]

That's a really dumb move by Lenovo. At least keep the Motorola name alive in North America, because everybody knows and trusts the Motorola brand. Rebranding future Motorola phones to the "Lenovo Moto whatever" is not a good marketing decision.

Indeed, and considering all the damage that was done to Lenovo's brand last year... not a great move.

[Shoob]

Now please don't tell me that Lenovo will merge their mobile market with Motorola's. <_<

[gurnben]

Sauce: http://www.androidcentral.com/lenovo-phase-out-motorola-brand-smartphones-moto-and-vibe-brands-be-used

Sauce 2: http://www.cnet.com/news/goodbye-moto-rola-iconic-brand-name-to-be-phased-out/

 

According to the article, the batwing logo will be retained, but the Motorola name will not be. Instead, the Lenovo name will be on the Moto X. Considering how iconic Motorola is to the mobile phone market (the very first mobile phone was made by Motorola, even), you have to wonder why Lenovo is doing this.

 

This also goes against what Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said after Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google. "We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger." Apparently their idea of "stronger" is now completely phasing out the brand and replacing it with their own. Betting that Google is starting to regret letting Motorola go now.

 

RIP Motorola :c

Why would they do this!  I loved Motorola smartphones, a 2013 moto x was my first phone!  Besides... Lenovo = laptops, Motorola = phones but they don't get it...

[Guest]

That's a really dumb move by Lenovo. At least keep the Motorola name alive in North America, because everybody knows and trusts the Motorola brand. Rebranding future Motorola phones to the "Lenovo Moto whatever" is not a good marketing decision.

yeah, totally agree horrible decision there 

Motorola has been around for a long long time 

but Nuuuuu

I love my baby!

[s3ns3]

lenovo moto

 

wat

[zMeul]

extremely dumb move by Lenovo that could potentially drive them off the smartphone market, at least in the US

[Aniallation]

In other news, Microsoft is phasing out Nokia, yet nobody really cares.

[DildorTheDecent]

'Lenovo Moto'

 

Well we lived through the 'Hello Moto' tag line for Motorola. 

 

Can't be too bad. 

[BlazingGunnerFTW]

Fuck you Lenovo..

 

With Konami pulling shit with Hideo Kojima, Batman AK is still not fixed.

 

I swear to god we need a PR 101 book for companies.

 

Sales will decline like falling on your ass on a 180 degree ice slop.

 

WHY DO COMPANIES DO THIS SHIT?

[samcool55]

...wut? Really wtf is going on with some companies?!

 

I love motorola... Please don't make the moto G a friend of me got a couple of months ago the very last moto i'll hold...

[Nowak]

For those of you also bemoaning Lenovo for this decision, remember that Motorola created the first mobile phone ever, the Motorola DynaTAC. Motorola is not a brand you can toss aside like this, it's the most historically significant mobile phone brand ever.

 

Nokia is also pretty historically significant and it's sad to see them go too, but come on. You can't beat the company that created the entire mobile phone industry in terms of historical significance.

[Sauron]

That sucks, Motorola had some great smartphones.

 

It's just a name, the phone manufacturing plants and engineers are the same

[Sauron]

The Bloat that comes with the lenovo name isn't tho. 

 

lenovo has owned motorola for more than a year, the bloat would have already happened - a name change won't do anything

[SuperShires]

My first phone was the Motorola Razr, and it was such a bad phone, 5mb of memory with no memory card slot, when you got better offerings from Nokia which did.

[Nineshadow]

That's a really dumb move by Lenovo. At least keep the Motorola name alive in North America, because everybody knows and trusts the Motorola brand. Rebranding future Motorola phones to the "Lenovo Moto whatever" is not a good marketing decision.

Jeez guys , read more carefully.

"Motorola" is becoming "Moto".

 

Lenovo will instead use the Moto name for its high-end smartphones, and the Vibe brand for budget devices.