amobilegeek

Motorola's handset unit is finished and the company has only itself to blame.  *Spolier Alert* - The Razr killed the StarTac. The Moto Razr is a phone I am sure most people remember as it became wildly popular only a few years ago due to its svelte physique and stunning luster.  At first it was a status symbol and commanded premium pricing, but it quickly eroded into a phone that even poor migrant workers in mainland China today could afford. Experiencing all that success paralyzed the company from innovating. The situation reminds me of a slogan for the incumbent presidential candidate from the movie Wag the Dog - "Don't change horses in mid stream." Motorola was afraid to innovate, afraid of change. By the time the phone was featured on Verizon Wireless' network, it was showing its age and the lack of improvements were catching up.

By resting on its laurels, Motorola ceded the lucrative smart phone market to the likes of HTC, Apple and RIM. What befuddles me is this: if Google supplies the brains of the cell phone, the software, called Android, that interfaces with the user, what the hell are the engineers at Motorola working on. The Motorola Droid and Droid X are breathtakingly unappealing. They lack soul, they lack TLC.  They are boring. How can your flagship phones be so 1980s? Take some risk, get inspiration from publications other than Junkyard Spare Parts Monthly.

Here are 3 things its handset division can do to reverse its negative market share growth in a highly competitive market:

1. Make fewer variety of phones and focus on better engineered products. Let HTC struggle with updating Sense UI, a customized skin applied to plain vanilla Android, every time an employee at  Google farts. Build better hardware. Build sexy hardware. Experiment with different materials. Be the thought leader in next generation materials technology. Buy some companies, create some patents, hire some scientists.

2. Stop messing with Moto Blur. Leave social networking to the hands of a 26 year old golden boy.

3. Work on finding processes that minimize time to market for a new concept. Every hour saved is a serious advantage over your competition. Its pretty clear that Apple has a 1 year product release cycle - use that knowledge to your advantage. Plan now for 5 years out, not next month.

4. If fairy dust isn't available, find creative talent to give you wings.  Hire passionate interns from highschool and college and take them to senior executive meetings and board meetings. They will learn a ton, and so will the decision makers. I am not advocating these kids lead any meetings. But provide 5 - 10 minutes for them to present their thoughts. The rest of the time, let them observe and learn.

Can Motorola pull off a Jesus-like resurrection? Let's hope the company hasn't pinned its hopes on the Droid X as it once did with the razr.