Motorola, one of the pioneers of the entire mobile phone industry, is rumoured to be making an exit out of the sector. Although this is quite a sad piece of news, I can’t say that I haven’t been expecting it to happen eventually. As I look back in retrospect, I smack myself for the lack of foresight. What on earth am I talking about?

Motorola 120c

Source: http://www.discountcell.com/cellular/images/v120c.jpg

In 2002, my mother decided to replace a piece of “CutEdge” technology (an adjective I will attempt to popularize with the use of this blog), her old Nokia phone died and she purchased a Motorola 120c. The Motorola 120c was with us until last year, when we decided the maximum ringer volume wasn’t loud enough and the battery life was dimming. The phone has been laid to rest, and replaced with a Nokia 6080 in a cruel twist of fate.

Motorola Razr

Source: http://www.cellphonebeat.com/images/lmj.jpg

A couple of years ago, the Razr was introduced to the world and next thing I knew, everyone had one. Heck, (maybe) even I wanted one at the time. Then, I never heard a word out of Motorola again. Sure, the Pebl was somewhat popular – but it didn’t have any specs or abilities similar to the rest of the phones of its age. I remember clearly, a friend of mine got the Pebl and I asked him what he thought of it – and he said “Sure, it can slide, but what else can it do?” – a statement that really hit me. People might’ve fallen for that Razr gimmick (dare I go there?), but it wasn’t bound to happen twice, with such a difference in ability.

Motorola

Source: http://www.nachtraben.info/assets/images/Motorola_Logo.jpg

What was I trying to get at? Motorola once had things going for it – it was the at the summit of the mobile phone industry and on top of everything, creating phones that could potentially last a good decade. Then, things changed – priorities shifted, and so did the game plan. I mean, I’ve seen the Razr2 commercials, but I’m just not motivated to buy one. And the result? Motorola couldn’t keep up with the times, and now is rumoured to be left at an ultimatum – to quit, or be bought by a Chinese company (unlikely, but might be interesting). I can’t even express how deja vu this is for me, as it is somewhat similar to IBM and Lenovo.

IBM, a former titan, reduced to but a shell of its former self, was partly purchased by Chinese company Lenovo, and is now making a slight comeback. Could something similar to this happen to Motorola, or will they just abandon the mobile phone industry and expand further into other fields of their specialty? If it is the latter, I must say that I will dearly miss their phones and I’m sorry that it had to come to this.