Motorola's Jha says MOTOBLUR brand will fade from view
By Donald Melanson 
posted August 9th 2010 5:26PM
posted August 9th 2010 5:26PM
We'd already had a pretty good indication that Motorola was shifting its strategy when it came to MOTOBLUR, and it looks like co-CEO Sanjay Jha has now finally made that move official. Speaking on the company's Q2 earnings call, Jha said that while MOTOBLUR will continue to be incorporated into some of it's phones, Motorola has decided that it will "focus on the value proposition of products and not MOTOBLUR as a brand name in its own right." Jha further went on to explain that "being able to convey the value proposition around MOTOBLUR is not an easy thing to do in a 30-second ad spot," but insisted that "MOTOBLUR continues to be important," and added that he thinks "you will see increased functionality in MOTOBLUR" -- you just won't be seeing the MOTOBLUR name much in public anymore.
YAY!!! INVISIBLUR FTW?
@Tizzle93 We don't want you to differentiate with software.
Let you hardware - be it specs or designs - do the work.
We want STOCK Android with fast updates! All these custom skins do is get in the way, delay updates, introduce new bugs, create problems with apps and prevent us from giving you our money.
Try listening to the consumers, Moto.
@Tizzle93 Look Motorola...no matter how much you try to blur the lines on what is and isn't blur..its STILL BLUR! Gaaah.
@Tizzle93 I hope Gingerbread disables Skins or has the option to turn of skins completely...
@Tizzle93 If anything, these reskins are more of a deterrent.
@Tizzle93
I hope this means Moto has seen 3.0 and are so impressed with it they later realized how pointless Motoblur is
@Tizzle93
I was hoping "DeleteABlur" over "Invisiblur"
@j3oomerang It already is pointless. Cloud sync with social integration...Blur doesn't really offer much that you couldn't do with stock or a few apps from the market.
@JONNNathannn
Hopefully they get rid of MOTOBLUR on the 2GHz phone they promised us!
@JONNNathannn
What about when Android gets to the point where updates are rare ? Then some software level customization wouldn't be so bad.
@JONNNathannn Actually, HTC already proved that custom skins don't necessarily slow down updates. They were the first to update to 2.2 independently of Google. And all those phone's they updated run Sense. I do agree that Motoblur sucks, however. Sense FTW!
@superlinkx Yeah, HTC did surprise all of us with crazy fast updates for Froyo. But all the other manufacturers - be it the challenge or low priority or lack of manpower - don't show the same drive. You've got Samsung in one corner causing months and months of waits and not promising anything more than a .X+ update once per handset, the Droid X lingering for sometime in the coming months...They were the exception, not the rule.
@JONNNathannn oh so true. just stop it t the phones are great, nix the blur crap.
@Tizzle93
MotoBlur will fade away along with the rest of Motorola. They'll probably be out of business by early next year.
@JONNNathannn Yes Moto....keep it stock Android....Geez don't you guys get the message.....
In other words they're putting MotoBlur on the phones... but just aren't telling you?
@EggoEspada I think you nailed it. I'm 99.996% sure you did.
Heck,
MotoBlur/ DroidBlur*(?) never really lived up to its HTC Sense rival IMHO. I bought my phone on the strength of HTC Sense being there. I wonder how many Moto users can repeat that about Blur?
*=Droid X's version of Motoblur
@Genjinaro
LauncherPro on my Droid X.
Moto what?
@AlexMP amen
I think motoblur is great!
I hope motorola keeps it around but yes I do see how it could be hard to explain in short commercials.
In other words motoblur won't be going anywhere, we just won't refer to it as motorblur because everyone hates that name.
Blur wasn't that bad....
@bigb3456 Its too in your face, battery drainer, and updates are slow. They haven't even finished MotoBlur 2.1 last I heard.
If they started off using the same more efficient skin on the Droid X and Droid 2 from the beginning, I wouldn't mind as much.
Does this mean the cake in the Facebook status was a lie? :(
Google should really come out with one define UI that Phone makers can't change much. android has so many looks that I don't think the average Joe knows it's the same OS.
@Complex true that but in some cases (referring to custom configurations by users) I've seen some Android phones that have amazing setups. I haven't used or witnessed a Android skin yet that hasn't been surpassed by a custom configuration by a Android user. From the screen layout to the icon selection, people have come up with some choice layouts.
Motorola should accept the simple truth of it. It wasn't Motorblur that saved them. It wasn't the Cliq or the CliqXT or the godawful Backflip. It was the Droid, running stock Android, with a fantastic ad campaign on a great carrier.
Dump Motoblur.
@EliteMonsterHunter Absolutely. The best way to go (for consumers, at least) would be a stock OS with built-in, easy to use customization tools. Let buyers decide what their phones look like.
But the manufacturers will continue to insist on marking their territory with bloated skins, even to the detriment of the user experience.
WOAH
Shouldn't this be breaking news????
My god finally!!!!
Motoblur, sense, and all social integration are a bummer for me. They just remind me how much of a loser I am. An hero.
FINALLY!!!
STOCK ANDROID ONLY PLZKTHNX
@tehslax
What, you didn't buy the N1? Well, too late now.
@pika2000 You just have to pay an extra $25 to become a registered developer and then buy the Nexus. Its not as dead as people say.
Good. Motoblur ruined what was a pretty decent phone in the cliq.
PLEASE let the rumors be true about Android 3.0 doing away with skins for a skinless stock Android. The first thing I did with my Vibrant was dump TouchWiz 3.0 for Launcher Pro and PowerStrip. A godly mobile computing combination...
@EliteMonsterHunter
IMO - Launcher Pro Plus is the single finest home App available for Android - Fast, Stable, Handsome, Awesome!
@EliteMonsterHunter
I actually like the way ADW Launcher looks better and its just about as stable
@DroidCLH ADW would be my close second. I have ADW on my Archos 5 IT and Launcher Pro on my N1 and Vibrant. I can definitely see the appeal for ADW but Launcher Pro just works better for me in terms of speed, customization and reliability.
@EliteMonsterHunter
"I can definitely see the appeal for ADW but Launcher Pro just works better for me in terms of speed, customization and reliability."
QFT
@EliteMonsterHunter yes the dell skin is awful too i use adw with swype keyboard makes it so much better
As Motorola becomes more and more intertwined with Googel's Android, the very best thing they can possibly do is to leave the OS Alone!
With Android Froyo/2.2 Google has (arguably) created the most solid mobile OS foundation currently on the market, and if they now choose to focus more on the GUI, let them do it, effectively 'synergizing' what some consider the rather fragmented Android experience that exist today.
Android's Future Looks Bright Either Way...
Lol, they are trying to shake off the horrible mess of motoblur, which already have a very bad name. The problem is, that despite changing the name, they still release a phones with a software crippled in multple ways, mostly by buggy and unnesesey cosmetic modifications and leftovers of motoblur. As Android developer I can tell, that if I hear that some handset has a problem with my software, most chances it is a motorola phone. And mostly probably due to buggy modification, standard APIs broken by non-standart modifications, standart behaviors changed for nothing etc. etc. The code that runs on dozens of other phones, need special hacks and workarounds to run on motorolla phones. From the software point of view, the only good motorola phone so far is Droid, which was the only one who got a vanila Android, without Motorolla software team messing with it too much.
I don't see the problem, just get a free home replacement from the market if you don't like skins{personally I use Launcher Pro} , thats the advantage of Android is so flexible/tweakable it makes even a nerds head spin .
The thing is when Google created Android they designed it for skins cause thats the only way manufacturers can distinguish themselves. yes it sucks but thats just the way it is, at least you can change it so it's not the end of the world.
@seven7dust Yes it would be no problem if there was an Android LAuncher replacement that would offer the exact same stock Android UI as Nexus One, without using one byte more of RAM or slowing down of anything. Launcher Pro and AWD may be close to Stock Android look and feel, but they are not EXACTLY the same as stock Android UI of Nexus One.
Why doesn't Google release a Stock Android UI home replacement in the Google Marketplace?
ClockworkMod Launcher IS just a rebuild of the stock Android home, and available in the Android market. It's not free, though ($2.99).
eh who cares... ?
@SonorityGenius
Obviously You Do... (at least a bit) or you'd never have {clicked} the link or responded.
Just Saying...
what? Now their just gunna sneak the bastard in? Motoblur is so stupid it better be gone by gingerbread as well as this BULL LOCKED BOOTLOADER!!
And "Social Networking" as we know it today was, as expected, thrown on the heap in the mass grave of generational fads.
R.I.P. MOTOBLUR