While our homeboy Boy Genius may not be
quite as well-known for his Moto scoopage as he is for his streak of RIM
leaks, we're totally intrigued by his report today that Moto is working on an 8 megapixel phone code named "Alexander" that's being internally described as the company's "last stand." The unit is said to feature an NVIDIA-sourced chipset for video and 3G graphics (
Tegra, perhaps?), an integrated GPS chip, and "probably" running "UIQ 4.0 or higher." It's not confirmed whether it'll have a touchscreen or what the final form factor will be, but release is set for October, and BGR says that if it's a flop the Moto brass will give up and sell the company off. That's a lot of pressure -- but with Moto's
struggles lately, we can't say there's much to lose by betting the company.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
McHale @ Jun 23rd 2008 4:15PM
Can't we just kill off the company now and save us all the hassle and drama?
Let me run through Motorola's development team idea list since it's origin:
1. Motorola Tough Talker
2. Bag Phones
3. Bag Phones with very insignificant menu and button changes
4. Brick Phone
5. Smaller Brick Phone
6. HUGE Flip Phone (DP-550 if you're curious)
7. Get Smaller flip phones and candybar phones for a few years while they try to fend off Nokia
8. Crap - fast forward about 10 years through this phase
9. RAZR
10. Pink RAZR
11. Other RAZR variants
12. ?
13. um... *MORE* RAZR variants
14. ?
15. cry
16. 8MP camera phone
Motorola cell phone's contact handling sucks. The features and applications are minimal and sucky at best. And you know what, they haven't done anything "NEW" since the RAZR. Sure, theyv'e made them shinier and longer then shorter then wider, but they are just like LAST YEAR'S RAZR but slightly different. It's like offering a station wagon last year and the same station wagon with wood grain stickers on the side this year and scratching your head why nobody wants the NEW one. Next year's station wagon has a raccoon tail on the antenna!
It's sad that the once great Motorola is choking because of the lack of effort, creativity, and understanding of the ever changing markety on their R&D team. Fire them all, hire some young phone nerds and they may have a chance. Obviously, this team has been scraping the bottom of the barrel for a while.
I recently emailed the new CEO about their phone troubles and haven't heard back. Too bad, I'm in Schaumburg all week right across the road from their office. As a side note, I noticed they have plenty of parking. ;)
-Mc
LordObento @ Jun 23rd 2008 4:40PM
"Dark Project" and "Last Stand", the 2 book series by Stephen King about a cellphone company that summons demons, sell their souls, and bring about the apocolypse.... oh wait.... he already did a cellphone thing... nevermind.
xB Owner @ Jun 24th 2008 11:17AM
If Moto is planning on making a "last stand" Tegra would definitely be the chipset to do it with. If done well and priced right, Moto could very well have their "next Razr" and quite possibly an "iPhone killer." Yes, I hate those terms, too. But they actually fit here.
Poor execution or a bad price point could very well mean the "final nail" in the Moto coffin. (I mean, as long as we're tossing around clichés.)