The Motorola brand, which has been a fixture in the technology world for 85 years, is about to be phased out by its parent company Lenovo.
The US-born company was bought from Google by the Chinese giant in 2014, with the company continuing the lineage of Motorola handsets.
However, the days of the Motorola name appearing on phones and in marketing materials will come to an end this year.
Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh told CNET: “
The company plans to simply use ‘Moto’ and the familiar batwing logo for high end devices, while all other handsets will feature the Lenovo Vibe branding. Even the top devices like the Moto X will feature the blue Lenovo logo rather than the Motorola name.
See also: Moto X Style review
The rather complex blending of the two brands will involve Moto devices being introduced to Lenovo stronghold territories and marketed it as premium devices.
The budget Vibe devices will also be introduced to western markets to complement the high-end Motorola devices according to the report.
If this wasn’t confusing enough, the Motorola company is being retained from an organisational perspective and that division will now oversee all of Lenovo’s smartphones activity.
Motorola is credited with inventing the first mobile phone with the DynaTAC released in 1984. Likewise, the company’s importance to the development of consumer technology in other sectors cannot be overstated.
In 1930 it released one of the first commercially successful car radios and in the 50s had a major role in the foundation of cable television systems. In 1969 a Motorola radio transmitted the first words from the Moon to Earth and in 1990 it launched the world’s first digital HD television.
Adios, Motorola.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
