By Some interesting quotables have arisen from the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference today. Speaking at the conference, Google’s chief financial officer Patrick Pichette responded to questions regarding Motorola and the hardware business Google inherited. According to Pichette, Google didn’t deem anything in Motorola’s pipeline “wow” worthy by its own standards.
We may like the DROID RAZR/MAXX HD or Motorola’s Photon Q, but if the authority on Android isn’t impressed by Motorola’s latest work then perhaps our standards are being set way too low. It’s a perfect opportunity for Google to show us what “wow” could be, then, as it has a very important show coming up in the next few months. Google is rumored to be launching the “X” phone with Motorola, and it would be the first device that Google has a heavy hand in.
If you don’t remember, Google originally revealed that it had at least 12-18 months of product pipeline to get through, which likely included the aforementioned DROID RAZR/MAXX HD and the DROID RAZR M. We haven’t heard of anything else but the “X” lately so perhaps Google’s influence will finally be hitting the research and development labs and production lines of Motorola soon.
In other news, Pichette decided to address allegations that Google is worried about Samsung’s current death grip on the Android pie. You would think Google would be happy that an OEM is making money with Android, but early rumors alleged the Mountain View company actually feared Samsung would run too many competitors out of contention.
Pichette didn’t outright say that wasn’t true, but did remind us that Google has an excellent relationship with Samsung. We’re sure they do, but we also know that you can have an excellent relationship and remain worried at the same time. Google will probably never outright express its feelings on the situation, but for now that’s all we’re getting from the horse’s mouth.
[via The Verge]
Lol… He basically, in pc speak, said that moto phones sucked! xD
Yeah, it’s difficult to read this any other way than: “We’ve spent the past year releasing boring products, and there’s a little more to come before you see something from Moto worth buying.”
I disagree. I can honestly say, “Wow, it’s really taken a long time for Motorola to release Jelly Bean for the 4G LTE Xoom.”
Well, my brother loves his new RAZR MAXX HD (I finally managed to convert him to android from his blackberry)
Yea i liked the RAZR Maxx HD, Good build quality, the only thing that would have made it a bit better would have been a S4 pro, they came a little late to the show with the S4
But it’s not ‘exciting.’ You can tell it was designed by engineers. My brother is an IT guy so he was only interested in practicality.
Well to be successful you have to turn a few heads, like when HTC launches their flagship, it usually comes with the best display in the market and most of the time they also introduce a new powerfully processor, like they did with the tegra 3 early last year and now with the S600, than Samsung releases their new lineup and one ups HTC and now even LG and Sony have gotten into the mix.While when it comes to Motorola, when they release a new device, its just average, it doesn’t have the best screen resolution, it doesn’t have the fastest processor , it doesn’t have the most features, it doesn’t have the best build quality, doesn’t have the best design , but it does offer better reliability especially with the battery life. At the same time reliability isn’t something to get very excited over.
I agree with almost everything you said except the build quality. I think most fans of Motorola’s products buy, because of the build quality. Motorola doesn’t really skimp on its materials.
I’m not saying the quality is bad, its great but not the best
Moto phones always get good service, don’t know how, but the OG photon got seller service…
Well… In all fairness, anything would say “WOW” in comparison to BlackBerry.
not anything i would rather have a blackberry than iphone or cheap low end android models
Yes but he considered all of the other phones before deciding on the moto. He keeps saying how the battery makes his phone something he can actually use
I’m sure Google is worried about Samsung. I think their biggest fear is probably the worry of forking or making incompatible Android versions.
Take the split window implementation for example. I believe one Google one engineer was publicly asking OEMs to not do that so that Google can come up with the right design for it to make sure all Apps worked correctly. But Samsung has still done that and we are already seeing App developers adding support for this non-standard API. The more this happens the more the devs and customers get sucked into Samsung (or any other OEM) specific implementation. And that’s never good for the standard Android ecosystem.
Samsung doesn’t seem to care though. They are in a strong position. Why would they?
and i can think of many companies that felt so strong and did similar moves,Nokia is the biggest example, where are they now? samsung is rising, after every rise there’s a fall and i’m sure samsung fall will be swift and dramatic
Samsung will not fork Android like Amazon or fork it in general. They are part of the OHA and have strict guidelines to adhere to, to stay part of Google’s ecosystem. Them leaving Android would be suicide.
but if anyone has the goods to really make a legit fork, its Sammy. They could easily be the ‘next apple’ and be what microsoft is gunning for with the surface and google is with moto. make a device software and hardware in house. Samsung has really cleaned up touchwhiz. Want to know what people say when i show them my galaxy nexus? “is that like….the newest Galaxy!?!?!?!”
samsung has the brawn to branch out, just as much if not more then amazon.
Doesn’t have this country a capitalist market?
Google is giving the same support to every OEMs way are they worry about?
They should be worried about Firefox and Ubuntu OS’s stealing Samsung.
I would actually like to see Samsung leave Android and go to something else. I hate their build and interface. They have always been the Android handset that closest resemble something Apple would release. My opinion of course
Why would you want them to leave they introduce millions of people to android which can only be good for android… They devices may not be for some but they appeal to millions and I would much rather have the choice of buying a Samsung android device than not having a choice.
They’ve come a long way.
I wonder where the Nexus Q and Chromebook Pixel fall on Google’s wow-factor chart.
I’ll give the Pixel a wow on two fronts… it’s a really nice machine, and the price is definitely a wow for a Chromebook.
There isn’t a mickayla maroney pic posted why?
Motorola, puts out dated looking products!! Lets get this X phone RIGHT Motorola!!
Screw dated. I’m sick of product design. Make phones like laptops – decide on a form factor (I like 5″ 130x70mm, thickness depends on battery and camera quality). Give us microSD and removable battery. Then just keep upgrading the motherboard, but the display (which is almost there really) and case can stay the same. Keep the costs down, the user numbers up and of course, use stock Android and allow rooting for those who want to try other ROMs.
Moto x would be a 4 inch, oled 720p s600 device with 2gb ram and 13mp shooter.
So, in other words, outdated?
4 inch is too small for such a bad ass phone, I’d rather they use the s800, and almost all phones have 1080p now instead of 720p. I highly doubt that a phone with such hype as this one would be like this.
I agree, screen needs to be at least 5.
Google should be looking at Motorola and saying “wow! a phone that can last over 24 hours of heavy use without needing a charge”. If you really use your phone for business, Moto have the many of the only Android handsets that are practical.
Well, Samsung is showing you can make money and take on the i*hone with Android operated phones. Its a bummer for the other OEMs and even Google’s Nexus line, but hopefully their success will cause them to step up device and feature quality, and actually put some money into marketing.
I agree with you except that Google’s Nexus line has been doing better with each iteration. Hopefully whatever they release next will step up the game yet again.