Motorola Classics

Motorola is right up there with the best of them when you consider the seminal phone models that influenced the industry. They have never been as big outside the USA as inside, but those classics mostly had global appeal. As I am shortly joining Motorola Mobility to hopefully kick start a new successful chapter in its storied history, I thought it was worthwhile writing my fist post here on some of the devices that made Motorola great.

Motorola DynaTAC

The Motorola DynaTAC debuted in 1983 as the world’s first commercially available portable cellular phone. Before the DynaTAC mobile telephones were so heavy they were restricted to in car use, or came attached to suitcases.

The DynaTAC has become a cult icon, featuring in many movies, TV series and games set in the 80’s, such as American Psycho, Wall Street and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. If you are to think about the 80’s you’re as likely to think of the SynaTAC as a Porsche 911, Miami Vice, or Duran Duran.

Motorola MicroTAC

At half the size of its nearest competitor at the time, the MicroTAC was perhaps the first phone you could call pocketable when it launched in 1989. It was also the phone that introduced the flip phone category, which is still popular to this day in the feature phone segment.

Motorola StarTAC

The StarTAC is last of the successful TAC series, and the first I actually remember. It was the phone for celebrities to be seen with in 1996. This was made easier by the fact it was the smallest and lightest phone at the time at only 3.1 ounces and could be clipped on your belt (not that I would recommend that). The StarTAC was the first ever clamshell phone, and one of the first with a vibrate function. It was also perhaps the first mass market mobile phone, with over 60 million StarTAC’s sold.

Motorola RAZR

The Motorola RAZR was perhaps the ultimate evolution of the flip phone. It was a runaway success, selling over 130 million and becoming the best selling phone in the US until the iPhone 3G took that crown. It still is the best selling flip phone of all time.

The RAZR breathed new life into Motorola, and brought a dew design lead direction. Like its predecessors the MicroTAC and StarTAC, the RAZR was the thinnest phone on the market at the time. This combined with a high quality aircraft grade aluminium and magnesium construction construction were its defining features. Motorola had the most desirable model on the market on its hands again.

Unfortunately, Motorola held onto the success of the RAZR for far too long. Smart phones, led by the iPhone, took over from fashion phones as the most desirable phones on the market. The RAZR was a marvel of design, but the software was clunky and underpowered. It couldn’t compete with the features and usability offered by the new generation of phones. The length of time that Motorola kept pushing the RAZR sullies the memory of a phone that was right up there with the best when it was in its prime.

Motorola Droid

The Droid was Motorola’s first truly desirable phone since the RAZR. The first Android phone on Verizon, the Droid was the phone which launched the Android revolution. Before the Droid, Android had a lot of potential but was looking for its first breakthrough. Since then, Android has become the number one smartphone OS, overtaking long time leader Symbian.

The Droid was Motorola’s first phone that could compete both hardware and software wise with the iPhone. It is now in its third generation and is on sale along side its QWERTY keyboard-less Droid X. It was positioned as the anti-iPhone, with dark, menacing and angular looks, contrasting it with the smooth shiny iPhone. The iPhone only had a virtual keyboard, while the Droid went with a hardware keyboard as well as a touch screen. It was marketed via a high profile Verizon Droid does adverting campaign as doing many things that the more locked down iPhone couldn’t do. The campaign worked and Android took off.

What’s Next?

Motorola have a lot of history for innovation in the mobile industry. They’ve started many trends, created new segments, popularised platforms, and made phones smaller and lighter than the competition. Almost all of this innovation has come with hardware though. Motorola’s software has never been its strong point, but now with Google posed to take over, they should be able to resolve that weakness.

I haven’t seen Motorola’s future hardware plans as I haven’t started yet, but I wouldn’t be joining them if I didn’t believe they are capable of repeating past glories and regaining its place at the top of the mobile industry. Motorola have had a bright past and there is very chance they’ll have an even brighter future.

9 months ago  /  47 notes  /