I think Motorola's problems are due more to crappy products than marketing.
All marketing can do is raise awareness & desirability of a product. Marketing will continue to work if people like your products (Apple, Budweiser, Coke, McDonalds, etc.)
Once owned, the product will be judged. If the product is good or great - people will buy another. If the product is average or poor, hello tough road ahead.
Motorola's user interface is garbage.
I had used friends Motorola phones and couldn't believe how bad the UI was. I chalked it up to me being unfamiliar with it. I was going to buy a Sony phone (6 months ago) but tried it in person and the buttons were way to small so I bought a Motorola SLVR.
The physical design of the phone was nice but using the phone was horrible. I still can't believe how bad the UI was.
Have you used a Q? It's a piece of junk.
I think lots of people liked the sleek form factor of the RAZR and bought them, used them, didn't love them and were very receptive to trying a new brand of phone for their next purchase.
I don't believe any amount of marketing could have changed this.
Motorola's epitaph: A semiconductor company that thought it was a cell phone company.
And now, the once-great PowerPC is fit only for game consoles, having lost it's early lead against Intel during the Intel/AMD wars. Which are over, BTW. Bought my INTC at about $20, when Jobs "made the switch" and I could see what way the wind was blowing.
I HAD some MOT. I made money on it. I ditched it when they spun off Freescale. I made some bucks on IBM, too-- another company with no "fun" products left. "It Services"-- yawn.
When Zander showed up Motorola was in dire shape. He made huge strides in helping a moribund organization return to innovation and growth. If the company retrenches to old management styles things could get much worse before they get better. Read more at http://www.thephoenixprinciple.com
I browsed Motorola's phone linup and it looks like they sell mostly traditional cellphones. So it is probably a case of lack of innovation than marketing. Only smartphone I see from them is the Motorola Q, which seems to be a modest success.
RAZR is their megahit "traditional cellphone" which I believe sold over 100 million units. So the current headlines that say Motorola's cellphone business is a one hit wonder are not far off.
"RAZR is their megahit "traditional cellphone" which I believe sold over 100 million units"
If the RAZR sold 100M, I'm glad I have Apple stock. The RAZR has some very nice features, but the people I know who have them, hate them.
Commenting by HaloScan
