Moto Gets Back Its Mojo

Few people would have predicted that Motorola would be in the same sentence as “Best of CES 2011.” But it happened. Motorola — the company that had risen to new heights with the Razr only to lose its lead to BlackBerry and Apple — had a week in Las Vegas only a lucky gambling high-roller could match. In voting by the editors and reporters of CNET, Motorola won the “Best of CES” award for its Motorola XOOM – dubbed as the first device on Google’s new Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system designed from the ground up for tablets. In addition to “Best of CES” award, Motorola received two other award honors – “Best Smartphone” for the Motorola ATRIX and “Best Tablet” for the Motorola XOOM. By way of background, Motorola XOOM has a dual core processor, and an HD optimized 10.1-inch widescreen. Motorola ATRIX 4G was presented as the most powerful mobile phone available. Its webtop application runs a full Mozilla Firefox 3.6 and uniquely docks with computers and keyboards. Of course, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen Motorola receive accolades for its innovation. Wikipedia tells us that, over the RAZR’s four-year run, Motorola sold more than 110 million units, boosting its position to second place in the handheld market behind Nokia. Was it an iconic device? You bet. PC World put the RAZR at #12 in The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years. Now Motorola is considered an also-ran with just 17 percent share in the U.S. market and no dominance elsewhere. As marketers, we need to be ready to adapt. And we must remember that it isn’t over until it’s over. Success comes with innovation coupled with sought-after consumer benefits and backed by great marketing and the right pricing. If those elements are indeed present in devices like the XOOM, then down go the pundits who have written off Motorola forever. Read more on this here http://bit.ly/hXWZQ4.