TechDomino
I’ve long suspected that depending on how Google wants to do this (whether they want to make a lot of profit for Motorola from day one, or whether they care more about market share and wanting to make Motorola a “top Android OEM” again), they might push the Motorola X to be either more expensive than the Nexus 4, but with similar specs, and perhaps some novel new features (customization, new sensors), or cheaper than $300, but with specs as least as good as the Nexus 4.
TheVerge seems to think that the phone could be around $200 unlocked. If that’s true, it will get a lot of buzz, that’s for sure, and I think Google realizes that and considered that. But again, that’s only one possible strategy for them, although probably the best one to take right now.
With a very decent $200 Android phone, Motorola could quickly get back in the game in terms of market share and sales, not just in US, but also especially in other countries. Over the past few years, Motorola has started getting out of other countries, because they got squeezes out by companies like Samsung, HTC and others.
Let’s take India for example, where even a $200 phone could be seen “high-end” smartphone for most people there. But unlike the $200 Samsung or Micromax phones, the Motorola X that comes straight from Google, offer fast upgrades, and be seen a lot better by Indians than just another regular $200 Android phone. The same goes for other Asian countries, European countries, and even some African countries.
Google is looking at the billion of users that could afford a $200 phone, instead of the tens of millions that are buying a $700 phone every year. So strategy wise, this is pretty brilliant. Still, I’m looking forward to when Google is ready to launch some high-end phones for everyone, too (disregarding the RAZR line), but that probably won’t happen until next year.
