Motorola Revs Up Its Lineup With a New Razr
NEW YORK _ It was billed as a look at a new frontier of mobile communication, a forum fit for the unveiling of a new cell phone that Motorola chief executive Edward Zander recently dubbed a “media monster.”
Actually, Motorola’s new phone curtain-raiser here Tuesday was short on the new _ only an advanced version of the Razr that hadn’t been shown publicly before. But the New York event offered Zander and his troubled company a chance for a fresh start of sorts after an ugly spring that featured a proxy war with activist financier Carl Icahn.
Zander returned to his role as ebullient pitchman, on stage before a crowd of analysts and media, extolling the video-and music-playing capabilities of a new crop of high-end phones that were exactly the kinds of device Motorola must successfully sell.
It was a far cry from last week when Zander sat silently on a stage at Motorola’s annual shareholders meeting in Chicago, listening to one particular shareholder _ Icahn _ cast doubt on his employment security if he can’t cure Motorola’s ailing mobile phone business.
Tuesday, Zander talked about the need “to put the wow back into what we are doing.” The event, held at a modern dance studio in the trendy Chelsea neighborhood, was full of glitz: blaring hip-hop music and videos of celebrities, including Fergie and David Beckham, demonstrating Motorola phones.
But some analysts said the show was short on substance.
“Overall, this has been a disappointing event,” said Avi Greengart, mobile device analyst at Current Analysis.
Zander called the new phone line up “just the beginning,” saying, as he did last week: “We have a lot of work to do.”
Critics have said that Motorola’s problems lie partly in emphasizing phone form over function. The Razr was such a huge hit style-wise that it blinded Motorola to a growing weakness in phones featuring music, video and the web. Or so the theory goes.
It wasn’t surprising then that, unlike at other product launches in recent years, Zander and other Motorola executives played up what their phones can do _ even with the Razr 2. “We wanted to build the ultimate fashion phone,” Zander said.
That means that like its namesake, the Razr 2 will be sleek and slim: two millimeters thinner, to be exact. But Zander spent far more time talking about the phone’s features. Its external screen will be the largest for its type of phone, and it will sport an extra-scratch-resistant exterior. It will be fast, too, with Zander noting that it downloads songs three to five times faster than a key rival phone.
Motorola also played up function for the Moto Z8 and its advanced video-playing capabilities. Ditto for the Rokr Z6 music phone and the Q 9, a new version of Motorola’s flagship smart phone that in the past has been criticized for technical glitches.
All three of those phones, which run on speedy advanced networks, had been unveiled at trade shows during the winter. Tuesday, Motorola said all three models, as well as the Razr 2, will be shipped to retailers by July. Prices and carriers weren’t disclosed.
Ryan Reith, a wireless industry analyst at IDC, said all of the new phones will likely be priced at $200 and above. That’s a market segment where Motorola has been weak since the Razr was transformed from a premium phone into a mass market model.
Reith said he expects all of the new models, except possibly the Moto Z8, to be available in the United States. The Z8 is “bundled” with a full-length movie: “The Bourne Identity” will come pre-loaded in the phone. Such a package deal could help Motorola get a particularly good price for the Z8, Reith said.
Overall, the phones Motorola showcased are a “step in the right direction,” Reith said. But he added that Motorola generated “a lot of hype for not quite much that’s new.”
Greengart agreed, noting that he expected more after Zander had talked last week about unveiling a movie phone that would be a “media monster.”
Zander was referring to the Moto Z8. Greengart said that with the “media monster’ billing, he was anticipating something that would compete with Apple’s upcoming iPhone or Nokia’s N95, a high-end multi-media model.
Greengart, however, praised the Razr 2, saying it’s definitely an improvement over current Razrs. It offers far more functionality, and its Crystal Talk feature _ which muffles background sound _ is a novel idea, he said.
Still, Motorola could experience the same problem with the Razr 2 that it did with the Krzr. The Krzr was priced at $200 when it was launched last year, but at that time, the Razr was selling for only $50. The Razr cannibalized sales of the Razr-like Krzr.
The Razr remains cheap and it remains an incredibly popular phone. Zander said Tuesday that Motorola had sold 98 million Razrs since the phone debuted in November 2004.
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