After a solid year end quarter, Motorola Cell Phones plans to continue staking its claim to the smartphone market by releasing an unprecedented 20 smartphones in 2010. The company did very well last year making phones such as the Droid for Verizon and the Cliq for T-Mobile. With the 20 cell phones slated to come out this year includes a Google device that will be sold directly to consumers as opposed to one sold through the carrier. This has become a more popular move in recent years, take the Google Nexus One for example and Motorola Cell Phones was quick to jump on board with the idea.
Yes, the mobile device market is rebounding and many if not all companies expect great things in 2010. But to get profits they will need products and it seems as though Motorola has no shortage of those. We the consumers might think of 2009 as a "testing the waters" type of year for Motorola Cell Phones. Well, after a positive reception from the general public, the company hopes to go from "testing the waters" to taking a market share of the smartphone industry. In other words, they feel they are ready to dominate the market. But 20 cell phones in a single year, is this over-saturation, over ambitious, in general a bad idea.
Likely it is not. Why you ask? Well, think of what 20 cell phones can accomplish in a single year. The company can focus a few phones on the business demographic, another couple on multimedia aspects for a young audience, a few camera phones, some cross over devices; basically, a little bit of everything. But they will also be able to explore new ideas, specific niches, get a grasp on different technologies, test the waters with innovative ideas while still turning a profit with already proven devices. With 20 phones in a single year they can allow a flop or two, but imagine if some of the more experimental ideas don't flop, instead they are great success stories? Well, then they've done probably as well as they can expect. And I assume this is the logic behind the launch of so many devices. So expect that a wide range of phone within that 20, not just 20 nearly identical devices.
It is now safe to say that the market for cell phones is essentially just a smartphone market. There are very few basic handsets left and that is why there is such a scramble to make a name for a company in the changing market. It is now or never. This could well be the year that decides which cell phone makers will be a force in the coming years and what companies will focus on other projects entirely. Certainly it feels as though Motorola will stake its claim among the big boys of the industry.
