Commentary: Can Motorola make a turnaround by riding on Android-powered handsets and white-box approach?
Looking for ways to revive its struggling handset business, Motorola has recently come out with two relatively strong initiations - unveiling its first Android-powered handset, the Cliq, and establishing a new ODM team in Beijing.
To move its handset business going forward, Motorola has to ride on the success of the Cliq and its new approach to ODM handset makers. However, there are pros and cons of the two initiatives.
The touch-enabled Cliq appears to have drawn favorable responses from a number of carriers, including T-Mobile, Orange, Telefonica and America Movil, and the Cliq's social-networking software 'Motoblur' also looks impressive.
But Motorola's treating of Android-powered phones as a make-or-break device could be troublesome, some industry observers commented, citing increasing availability of Google-based handsets and the acceptance of Android OS phones in the Asia-Pacific region.
Other handset vendors such as HTC (High Tech Computer) have also targeted the entry-level to mid-range segments of the Android-powered smartphone market, generating concerns over market demand and the profitability of the Google phones.
Shipment volumes of the Cliq handsets in the fourth quarter of 2009 are estimated to top one million units, which may not help much to boost Motorola's global market share.
As a result, Motorola has to resort to low- to mid-range feature handsets to help regain its market share and profitability - a critical reason behind the formation of a new ODM team in Beijing.
The new ODM team, which is headed by Liu Fei, a former TCL Group senior vice president and CEO of TCL Communications Technology Holdings, reportedly plans to release orders for up to several tens of millions of 2.5G feature phones to ODM makers in China and Taiwan.
Would the ODM team led by Liu Fei be able to improve Motorola's product image and help push the vendor's global market share to 10% from 5-6% at present? Probably not.
The ODM team has revealed that it will give priority to handsets based on MediaTek chipset platforms, according to handset makers in Taiwan who have asserted that under such a policy, China handset makers could actually outbid Taiwan rivals in the grab of Motorola orders due to their relatively strong expertise in the development of MediaTek-based mobile devices.
The operations of the ODM team are following the steps similar to the development of white-box handset makers, which could help Motorola expand its share in the China handset market, commented the makers, who nevertheless questioned whether such a policy could work to raise Motorola's product image and meet its status as one of the top-five players in the global market.
source
To move its handset business going forward, Motorola has to ride on the success of the Cliq and its new approach to ODM handset makers. However, there are pros and cons of the two initiatives.
The touch-enabled Cliq appears to have drawn favorable responses from a number of carriers, including T-Mobile, Orange, Telefonica and America Movil, and the Cliq's social-networking software 'Motoblur' also looks impressive.
But Motorola's treating of Android-powered phones as a make-or-break device could be troublesome, some industry observers commented, citing increasing availability of Google-based handsets and the acceptance of Android OS phones in the Asia-Pacific region.
Other handset vendors such as HTC (High Tech Computer) have also targeted the entry-level to mid-range segments of the Android-powered smartphone market, generating concerns over market demand and the profitability of the Google phones.
Shipment volumes of the Cliq handsets in the fourth quarter of 2009 are estimated to top one million units, which may not help much to boost Motorola's global market share.
As a result, Motorola has to resort to low- to mid-range feature handsets to help regain its market share and profitability - a critical reason behind the formation of a new ODM team in Beijing.
The new ODM team, which is headed by Liu Fei, a former TCL Group senior vice president and CEO of TCL Communications Technology Holdings, reportedly plans to release orders for up to several tens of millions of 2.5G feature phones to ODM makers in China and Taiwan.
Would the ODM team led by Liu Fei be able to improve Motorola's product image and help push the vendor's global market share to 10% from 5-6% at present? Probably not.
The ODM team has revealed that it will give priority to handsets based on MediaTek chipset platforms, according to handset makers in Taiwan who have asserted that under such a policy, China handset makers could actually outbid Taiwan rivals in the grab of Motorola orders due to their relatively strong expertise in the development of MediaTek-based mobile devices.
The operations of the ODM team are following the steps similar to the development of white-box handset makers, which could help Motorola expand its share in the China handset market, commented the makers, who nevertheless questioned whether such a policy could work to raise Motorola's product image and meet its status as one of the top-five players in the global market.
source
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