Lenovo May Kill the Motorola Brand
It looks like another popular name in the mobile phone industry is set to follow the same fate as Nokia (although the latter might be making a comeback this year). Buzz around the internet is that Motorola will soon be phased out.
Lenovo, which bought Motorola from Google back in 2014, announced at CES 2016 that it will phase out the Motorola brand for its phones. “We’ll slowly phase out Motorola,” said Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh.
The decision is particularly interesting when seen in light of Lenovo’s statement back in 2014 when it said that, “We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger.”
What this means is that Motorola’s phone business will now come under Lenovo and the Motorola name will disappear from its phones this year. Meanwhile, Lenovo will still use the ‘Motorola Mobility’ name for its phone division, but any upcoming phone or wearable will fall under the brand of ‘Moto’ and ‘Vibe’.
Motorola fans need not despair. The brand name will continue to live on, albeit in a more minimalist way. Future Moto products will continue to sport Motorola’s batwing-like ‘M’ logo along with Lenovo’s blue logo. Indeed, Motorola will be missed, and will always be remembered as one of the earliest, if not first brand to produce a mobile phone.
