At CES this week, Motorola Mobility chief operating officer Rick Osterloh said that Lenovo plans to phase out the Motorola brand, which created some confusion. The company responded by releasing a statement to address the reactions. “… Many articles and blog posts have focused on the fact that as part of these plans, the ‘Motorola’ company brand will become less central to our marketing. We want to add a little context that was missing from these reports.”
Motorola wants to “streamline” its products under two brands: Moto and Vibe (which is known as Le Meng in China). The company wants to assure us that it is not simply dumping the Motorola name or organization. Rather, it is seeking to “evolve” under its parent company Lenovo, which purchased Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014.
The pioneering telecommunications corporation says that Motorola Mobility itself remains the engineering and design wing for all the of Lenovo’s Mobile Business Group (MBG) smartphones and wearables. The subsidiary does not plan to lose its “engineering heritage.”
The Motorola brand itself has changed over the years, as the company played with various fonts and colors, as many other corporations are wont to do. The decision to bring on the “Moto” label is simply another step that clearly demonstrates a streamlining effort. Motorola is confident that consumers will recognize the connection and appreciate the change. In addition, the “batwing” logo has been changing from the traditional blue or red to something more colorful.
The Motorola brand will continue to be used on Moto and Vibe products, though it’s likely that it will be less prominent than before. The two new names will be used for the “hero smartphone product brands” across the globe. In other words, they will be what you notice above all else when looking at a Motorola product. Also look for the Lenovo name to make an appearance on packaging.
Under Lenovo’s vast umbrella, Motorola can expand into one of the world’s most competitive businesses. For example, it can offer customers a complete PC, tablet, and smartphone experience. Lenovo itself will be the connection between all future commercial products.
Motorola has built some of my favorite foldables and flagship phones. I had a great time with both the Razr Fold and last year's Signature. So when the company began teasing the Signature 27, I couldn't help be excited. The new model comes with Qualcomm's blazing-fast Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, and better still, it is finally getting a proper global release.
One of the reasons I was obsessed with the last-gen Signature was its amazing price tag. But it seems like that budget flagship dream might be officially dead. Portuguese retailer MegaPC has prematurely listed a 12GB RAM and 512GB storage Signature 27 in Pantone Coal Smoke for €1,594.90 (approx. $1,775).
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.