Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
While the trend has been for Android device makers to throw new models off the assembly line at a dizzying pace, at least one phone manufacturer is stepping off the treadmill.
Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said his company plans to release fewer new models this year, in an effort to concentrate its marketing dollars.
“A lot of products that are roughly the same doesn’t drive the market to a new place,” Jha said on Tuesday in a roundtable meeting with reporters. Of course, it is an interesting statement from a company that released the Droid Bionic and Droid Razr in rapid succession, followed on Monday by the Droid Razr Maxx — a version of the Droid Razr with a bigger battery.
Jha noted that it was a delay in the Bionic that caused that product’s debut to be so close in timing to the Razr.
Asked whether he thinks Motorola would be better off if others also slowed their launches or if he prefers them to continue their current pace, Jha demurred.
“I made this decision independent of what the others will do,” he said. “We’re doing what we think is the right thing.”
Jha also said the company plans to pursue fewer new ideas in an effort to make more things stick.
The shift comes at a key time for Motorola, which is in the process of trying to sell itself to Google. The company also warned last week that fourth-quarter sales would come in below what most analysts had been expecting.
Last year the company introduced the notion of a lap dock in which phones could be plugged into a bigger screen and keyboard to perform many of the same tasks as a laptop.
Jha conceded that the product hasn’t been the commercial success it hoped nor did customers find it delivered the performance they were looking for.
However, Jha said that the company is making further refinements and still believes in the concept for the future.
MORE CES NEWS:
- Complete coverage
- HP’s Former CTO: Ultrabooks Are Nothing New, webOS Still Has Life Yet
- Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
- What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
- Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
- Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
- Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
- Inside the CES Lost & Found
- FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
- Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
- Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
- Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
- Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
- T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
- Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
- Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
- Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
- More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
- Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
- And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
- Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
- Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
- BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
- Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
- Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
- Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
- Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
- Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
- Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
- Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
- Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
- Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
- AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
- LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
- LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
- Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
- CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
- Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
- Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service
- There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!
- CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!
- Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2
- RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES
- Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops
- At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch
- Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
- Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show
- Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
- Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
- Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012