Why are so many people saying the Moto X isn't selling?

Mac58

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I have noticed recently that alot of people on android sites are saying the moto x isnt selling and thats why theybare dropping their prices and offring such great deals in the moto x. However, in reality motorola, after not releasing anthying pretty much besides their razr devices on vzw, jumped to be the third leading smartphone supplier in the US according to comscore:
(comScore Reports October 2013 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share - comScore, Inc)
I for one am glad motorola is doing well and offering exceptional products at a affordable price, I cant stop reccomending the motox and moto g to iphone switchers and android upgraders. I thought I woukd just share the facts with everyone so they wouldnt be fooled like I was into thinking mototola wasnt selling well.
 

UJ95x

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Re: why is everyone saying the moto x isnt selling??

I have noticed recently that alot of people on android sites are saying the moto x isnt selling and thats why theybare dropping their prices and offring such great deals in the moto x. However, in reality motorola, after not releasing anthying pretty much besides their razr devices on vzw, jumped to be the third leading smartphone supplier in the US according to comscore:
(comScore Reports October 2013 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share - comScore, Inc)
I for one am glad motorola is doing well and offering exceptional products at a affordable price, I cant stop reccomending the motox and moto g to iphone switchers and android upgraders. I thought I woukd just share the facts with everyone so they wouldnt be fooled like I was into thinking mototola wasnt selling well.

It's probably because it doesn't sell much in comparison to other flagships. Hopefully that changes if Moto keeps doing what they're doing with their next crop of phones comes out

Posted via Android Central App
 

Mac58

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Re: why is everyone saying the moto x isnt selling??

It's probably because it doesn't sell much in comparison to other flagships. Hopefully that changes if Moto keeps doing what they're doing with their next crop of phones comes out

Posted via Android Central App
When u say other flagships u mean samsung products? Because according to the link I provided and this interview, (Interview: Motorola's CEO Dennis Woodside talks Moto X, tablets, wearables and what's next - Pocket-lint) it IS selling better than other flagships.
 

CarbonOak

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Re: why is everyone saying the moto x isnt selling??

I think people are overblowing the price drops as bad news, but I think it's great for the consumer and to really get the Moto X out in the open. Motorola did make a few mistakes in marketing and selling the Moto X upon release:
-- They should have released Motomaker on ALL carriers, not as an AT&T exclusive
-- They should have released it a few months before the release of the new iPhone, not less than a month before the 5S
-- They should have had wood backs from the start
-- They should have marketed it a whole lot more in the beginning

I can somewhat understand the slow rollout possibly due to the fact that custom phone design has never really done before, so they were playing it safe. But at the same time, they could have hit a home run in sales if they released all the options at once to all carriers, and marketed it heavily. It is a top 2013 phone according to most Android and general tech sites, so I don't see why it couldn't have been a huge hit.
 

Mac58

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Also..

Moto X doesn't mark the spot: only 500,000 devices sold so far, report says | The Verge

Factoring in what really happened in the third quarter - US launch, late August, Motomaker exclusive to only one carrier, marketing push came later - number isn't surprising but it's probably an overreaction.

Posted via Android Central App
I saw this as well, but it was a 'report' with no stats to back it up so I chalked it up to a rumor becuase I dont see how they can only ship 500,000 and be 3rd in US, though all of your pounts are valid.
 

Tom in Bristol

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You're right, Ry...those are really stale numbers from Verge, mid November article and Verge will always be less than enthusiastic about Moto and Android in general. Woodside's comments at the recent CES to Pocket Lint are much more positive.

It's good that Moto now sees the importance of the segment of the market that doesn't want subsidized phones...more pressure on carriers, too.
 

UJ95x

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Re: why is everyone saying the moto x isnt selling??

When u say other flagships u mean samsung products? Because according to the link I provided and this interview, (Interview: Motorola's CEO Dennis Woodside talks Moto X, tablets, wearables and what's next - Pocket-lint) it IS selling better than other flagships.

Their market share increased. Doesn't mean they sell more, just means more people are converting to Moto than there are to Apple/Samsung. Still, all the people who were with those companies are going to stay there. And that's more than the number who are converting :p

Posted via Android Central App
 

fernandez21

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I will say the low pricing is helping. I never really gave the Moto X a look until i saw an offer for the 32gb for free. After using it, I really like this handset and for me it is the best android phone right now.
 

greg_atlanta

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a small at&t store at the mall (corporate location, not reseller) had taken it off display when I went to look at it. they did have one i could play with, but had to ask.
 

ETPhoneHomeT

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They're saying that because the Moto X numbers pale in comparison to the number of units sold by Apple and Samsung in the days following the release of one of their new updated flagship phones. They sell millions and Moto sells hundreds of thousands. However, I think this was part of the plan with the Moto X rollout. Moto took a big risk by introducing a game changer phone that focused more on user experience and useful features than continuing the spec wars and adding gimmicky UI skins/features. It started out being sold to a limited market (US only) and the Motomaker feature was exclusive to AT&T initially, but I think these were probably good decisions as they were developing an entirely new manufacturing and distribution network from their new US-based facility in Fort Worth, TX and had to get it up to speed. If they had tried to sell globally with Motomaker from the start, they likely would have fallen flat on their face and received all kinds of negative publicity. As it is, they seem to be receiving more and more positive publicity in trade and customer reviews as more people actually get them in their hands and live with the Moto X (and Moto G) and aggressive promotions and pricing played a part in doing that. The real test will come over the next year or two as Moto updates to the Moto X2 or whatever the X's successor is called. Then we'll begin to see if Moto has been successful with their strategy or not. I'm hoping they succeed!
 

zedorda

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I think Google has been whispering in the Motorola ear saying "Aim for second let the rest fight over 1st and you will do just fine". I would also bet that the Moto X & G are alot cheaper to produce making the price drops happen without a major hit to profits. To be realistic it is not cheap to develop all those useless features Samsung sinks all their research into.
 

Citizen Coyote

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a small at&t store at the mall (corporate location, not reseller) had taken it off display when I went to look at it. they did have one i could play with, but had to ask.

That's interesting, because an AT&T store I visited in a strip mall last week still had a huge Motomaker display set up prominently in the middle of the store (although they had not updated it to reflect that Motomaker is no longer exclusive to AT&T). Small stores are going to tailor their offerings to the local market, as they don't have room to do so otherwise. The larger stores however will likely keep everything in place.

I have yet to see a Moto X in the wild, but then again I've also only ever seen one other Nexus 4 in the wild outside of my own (two, if you include the guy who claimed to have one but "didn't have it on him"). I've only ever seen one HTC One as well, and only a handful of Samsung Galaxy S4s. I see tons of iPhones. None of this means the Moto X, HTC One, and Samsung S4 don't sell, it just means in my particular market everyone loves iPhones. It's all perception, and when you have articles like that Verge article reporting Moto "only" sold 500K phones with no context, then the perception will be that it isn't selling very well.

What Moto has done is create a ton of good will. Between a phone that's been almost universally praised in the tech press, releasing a good quality and unbelievably cheap sibling, pushing customization, and getting updates out at an unheard of speed, they've become the scrappy, likeable underdogs of the Android world. I owned a Moto Photon 4G, and once swore off another Moto phone after they abandoned it. Now I constantly tell myself, "No, you don't need a new Moto X no matter how cool it is, your Nexus 4 works just fine." That's some pretty effective marketing right there, and if the X's successor is as well received as the original, my next phone will almost certainly be one. I think that will be the case for a lot of people waiting for their contracts to come up and/or happy to wait a half year for the next X, and I believe the successor's sales will far surpass those of the X thanks to the groundwork laid by the original.
 

Pollster

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Everything I've seen and read suggests that everything important about Moto X has gone according to plan. The only people suggesting otherwise do not have even Motorola's track record for success, much less Google's.
 

GadgetGator

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I'm sure they haven't sold as many Moto X's simply for the fact that up until now it has been a U.S. only product. Even with the addition of parts of Europe it still leaves out a lot of countries and all of Asia and South America. Meanwhile Samsung and Apples are everywhere, so yeah...they don't sell as many......yet. That will change over time.
 

Ry

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You're right, Ry...those are really stale numbers from Verge, mid November article and Verge will always be less than enthusiastic about Moto and Android in general. Woodside's comments at the recent CES to Pocket Lint are much more positive.

It's good that Moto now sees the importance of the segment of the market that doesn't want subsidized phones...more pressure on carriers, too.

I'm very curious to see the Q4 numbers.
 

JoeNM84

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I just hope they sell enough to make money or break even so they keep producing phones. I figure as long as they are around the break even point Google won't pull the plug.
 

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