Motorola kills Motoblur branding
Keeps many features of its Android overlay but will stop trying to create separate brand, partly because of carrier confusion
Published: 12 June, 2011
Nokia's Ovi web brand disappeared a few weeks ago and now another handset maker's attempt to create its own software identity has ended, with Motorola canning the 'Motoblur' branding.
Motorola Mobility's handset turnaround is visible but slower than many had hoped, and insiders said the attempt to build Motoblur as a distinctive user experience and vendor brand was a distraction. That is likely to be a euphemism for an irritant to the US CDMA carriers, on whom the OEM remains highly reliant. There had already been confusion over the Droid naming and user interface featured on Android phones for Verizon, and the use of Motoblur on handsets for other cellcos.
The company may also have felt some pressure from its old best friend Sprint. Certainly, simultaneously with announcing that Motoblur was no more, Motorola boasted of a "reinvigorated alliance" with the second CDMA operator. Sprint will launch at least 10 new Motorola devices, including smartphones and tablets, during the rest of this year, under its own brand or those of its main prepaid services Boost and Virgin Mobile.
The first two to be unveiled were the Photon 4G, Motorola's first handset to support Sprint's WiMAX service (which already offers dual-mode models from HTC and Samsung); and the Triumph, the vendor's first device for Virgin Mobile USA. Also in the pipeline at Sprint is the Xoom tablet; Titanium, the vendor's first Android smartphone with Nextel Direct Connect push-to-talk capabilities; and two handsets for the Boost prepaid brand.
According to the Engadget blog, many elements of the social networking oriented Motoblur are still present in the firm's user interface - though in some cases, notably Verizon's models, this may be secondary to the carrier's own. However, the Motoblur name will no longer be marketed, and the company is reported to be focusing on "the value proposition" of its handsets, rather than a
More APP STORE News
More ANDROID News
More FEMTOCELL News
COMMENTS
Carrier Broadband Performance: Africa & Middle East
Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This...
Voice over LTE: Market Analysis and Forecasts
VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier's voice infrastructure economics and promises to improve voice quality, device...
Satellite Phones: Will Dual Mode Help the Phoenix Rise from the Ashes?
Satellite phones have followed an arduous path since their much-hyped launch more than a decade ago. The hype was followed by an e...
