Motorola will 'broaden the scope' of Blur, sell a phone through Google this year
By Chris Ziegler 
posted January 28th 2010 4:59PM
posted January 28th 2010 4:59PM
Earnings calls tend to be about as exciting as a stale piece of white bread, but every once in a while something juicy falls through -- and morsels are filtering out of the earnings call that Motorola held this morning. Here are the biggies:
- We hope you like Blur, because it's not going anywhere. CEO Sanjay Jha says that "the majority of our new smartphone [sic] this year will feature" the platform, and that it'll "include enhancements to address the prosumer segment of the market." They're looking to rope in media (music, photos, and so on) the same way they did social networking, boost enterprise compatibility for white collar types that only have one phone, and improve network efficiency to ease up on battery drain. All good things, we reckon.
- Feature phones in Moto's range will "meaningfully decline" as it heads toward planned profitability in the fourth quarter through higher-margin smartphones. Android isn't the only game plan, though -- it'll continue to develop its ultra low-end handsets for emerging markets.
- Following the Nexus One's lead, Jha said that it'll launch "at least one direct-to-consumer device with Google." That matches up nicely with a statement he made during our CES interview that "there will be multiple devices [launched through Google] and I think that we said 'yes' today that probably this next device is our device."
http://i46.tinypic.com/1675k76.jpg
If you can root it as easily as the Nexus One the Blur is going bye-bye. Heck, I really don't like it at all so I would probably turn it all off and run stock Android. :/
Shadow aka Nexus 2 hopefully.
"All told, we have every reason to believe that this'll be an exciting year for Moto fans -- and that HTC needs to keep a close eye on these guys."
--and that Google's going to be f-ing rich.
What does this have to do with the iPad?
@maattp I'm sure you'll get downranked for that comment, but, I upranked you. That never get's old. XD
I'm glad to see Motorola getting back in the game. Competition is good, and it's nice to see a comeback.
I'm not a big fan of the Droid, but I think Blur is pretty nice - although I've never used it. Looking forward to getting an Android phone soon anyway - Sense UI makes my iPhone look awful!
I was actually impressed by Moto Blur. It's pretty zippy compared to HTC Sense.
Dear Moto,
Please put a front facding camera on the Nexus 2. Also, If you could space out the keys on the keyboard some that would be great (lose the D-pad if you must, it's not a necessity, Thanks.
Edobe
@Edobe
Why? Just curious?
@Edobe
To clarify, I mean why FF cam?
@Mr Magoo For Skype calls and video conferencing.
@Edobe haha.. well anyway, there's a concept of the motoshadow being the N2 phone, running some Froyo.. lol (now this one has a keyboard) details: http://bit.ly/froyo-new-android-details
Interesting....
I'm still pulling for Palm personally.
@TheRogueFFAngel I am pretty happy with Android, but I am rooting for Palm too. They have a pretty nice OS going from the looks of it - they just need better (and more) hardware options. I don't like plastic much.
What I do like is options - which is why I wish them best of luck in building on their current product line and having success with it.
@PerryAJ
I don't mind the plastic, I just want a bigger screen.
@BigJayDogg3
And I agree with you. I really like Palm's OS. But I still want a bigger screen.
moto-blur?! oh no!
Give me a droid like device, a bigger screen (like the HD2) and space the keys out some , more than a 3 row keyboard (but I will settle) 8megapixel cam , with a better censor, and some options to record to .avi
I would be happy with that, Kill the dpad, put in some type of optical dpad, or just alt+arrow keys
"..at least one direct-to-consumer device with Google."
I have a feeling this will be a low end Android phone, with EDGE only. The high end models will have 3G and will be branded/locked for specific carriers. I hope I'm wrong.
Huh, last I heard Motorola was shutting down their business due to the unveiling of the iPad and the understanding that it's impossible to compete in a post-iPad market.
@sonicyoof my sarcasm detector hasnt been working well these days, so....
No thanx. I'm getting ipad only $499.
Most Desirable n technolically advanced device anyone has seen this decade. Now that ipad was unveiled everything else seems so 2001'ish.
Wm is so 1999.
@logic thinker wtf are you smoking on? the ipad has less uses than an iphone...
@logic thinker Good luck making phone calls on your iPad. ;)
whatever model they are going to pick and name as the Nexus Two, Google would you please throughly test the goddamn thing before releasing to the public?!
@kongmw
Yes, please! Also, a hardware keyboard with a decent D-pad on the left would be awesome too. Maybe some real customer service as as well.
Next device for Google is the Motorola Sholes Tablet (MB710) that is Motoroi XT720 without T-DMB TV-tuner
Google + Moto = Nexus Two
http://gizmodo.com/5458842/motorola-confirms-they-are-working-on-a-google-phone
I might be the only one but I love that they're continuing development of the ultra-low end handsets - I can hope for a MOTOFONE 2. With all the computers in our pockets, we tend to forget that a lot of the time it's awesome to have a tiny dirt-cheap phone with great reception and sound as a second unit.
it'll be nice to a have non-carrier branded option from Google that WON'T be from HTC (poorest customer service I've seen yet...)
[img]http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/4/2010/01/500x_motorolashadow.jpg[/img]
I don't really like the form factor of the backflip. The keyboard feels weird when its not flipped up...
Although it saddens me that my soon to be Nexus One will no longer be the reigning king of Android devices, I think this is great news. I'm not particularly a Motorola fan, but they've been putting out pretty good devices lately, as far as I know.
Glad to see the Android love, and also glad to see that a company which basically put its life on the line depending on Android to save it succeeded. Hopefully this will make other companies think more of adapting it as well, or at least setting a bigger portion of their devices for Android.
HTC HD2 with Android anyone?
@Junzhi You asked: HTC HD2 with Android?
Go Google the words 'HTC Supersonic'. There's your answer.
Y would some one ever want this phone I know it has MOTOBLUR but the keys on the back would just piss me off I would always be hitting them then the camera is with the keys is not good either I don't like the design of this phone but the MOTOBLUR is great
unless they improve blur drastically, they really need to get rid of it
@yyandrew Why??? It is no worse than Sense, and certainly better than TouchWiz. (Granted, I would never buy a phone with any of the 3rd Party alternate homes that bog down the phone... but I am clearly alone on this).
Err, why can't moto just sell their own damn phone straight themselves? What's with the need to sell it via Google? Sony is selling SE phones straight themselves. Same thing with Nokia. Sounds like moto doesn't have the confidence that their brand is good enough to sell the phones, thus the need to cling to Google.
Nexus One sales were a bit of a flop so far, so I wonder whether there'll be a Nexus Three. People seem to want a subsidized phone supplied by a telco, rather than paying up-front.
@IT expert Most people (I think) thought of the Nexus One all wrong. It never was the "Ultimate Device" that people were expecting, and in typical Google fashion, version 1.0 (or in their world the first Beta) is where they learn what they can and can't do, and go from there. (The big difference, in the past, their betas were FREE so it didn't matter, this time, there is consumer expense involved). The store, more than the phone was the "product" they are bringing... and it will evolve over the next couple of years. In Apple terms... this is a "hobby" that they (can afford to) fund without worrying about it being a blockbuster out of the gate.