Future of the Droid series...

[maxman1]

What's the prevailing opinion of the future for our beloved Droid series phones in light of Google selling off Motorola to Lenovo? I'd tend to think Verizon would prefer to keep their proprietary lineup if possible but that doesn't necessarily translate into Moto although, I sure hope it does.

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[Chex313]

Lenovo isn't into dumping money the way Google does...So the best selling American phone in the Motorola lineup (Droid) Should be alive and well. There is quite a bit of time though, first the sale has to go through than it will take time to implement changes. I would think Motorola already has the next 1 or 2 iterations designed and waiting for production or at least testing.

You can relax till 2015...

 

[Ry]

Motorola has the exclusive on the DROID brand. Doubt this will change if the Lenovo purchase goes through.

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[Unobtanium]

Motorola has the exclusive on the DROID brand. Doubt this will change if the Lenovo purchase goes through.

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What about all the HTC "Droid" phones?

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[Ry]

What about all the HTC "Droid" phones?

Posted from my XT1080M

When the 2013 Motorola DROID lineup was released, it was also announced that Motorola would be the exclusive partner for the DROID line.

This doesn't change any of the previous Samsung and HTC DROIDs previously released.

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[doogald]

Motorola has the exclusive on the DROID brand. Doubt this will change if the Lenovo purchase goes through.

What about all the HTC "Droid" phones?

When the Ultra, Maxx and Mini were announced last July, Verizon and Motorola also announced that they had started an exclusive contract for Motorola to provide Droid branded phones going forward.

I do wonder if Verizon has an escape clause in the contract that lets them out if Motorola was sold? That's very possible.

 

[Ry]

I do wonder if Verizon has an escape clause in the contract that lets them out if Motorola was sold? That's very possible.

Not sure why they would need one.

And Motorola isn't sold yet.

 

[doogald]

Not sure why they would need one. .

I'm not sure, either, though the contract was with one group of talent who had a specific vision for Android devices and upgrade schedules who could presumably all be gone with a sale.

 

[Ry]

I'm not sure, either, though the contract was with one group of talent who had a specific vision for Android devices and upgrade schedules who could presumably all be gone with a sale.

Motorola isn't sold yet.

Development on the next iterations would be well under way by now.

 

[AustinAggie]

Agreed, it shouldn't affect 2014 devices much.. 2015 is a different story, that's when Lenovo's influence would start showing up, for better or worse. I am a Thinkpad fan so I tend to lean towards it being better... but who knows.

 

[doogald]

Motorola isn't sold yet.

Development on the next iterations would be well under way by now.

Yes, I know. I never said the sale was closed yet. I never said that they hadn't already developed this year's phones, or even started on next year's phones. What I said is I wondered if Verizon has the ability to get out of the deal with Motorola if the company is sold (which is almost certainly going to happen; I see no reason why US regulators would be against it, though I'm not sure about Chinese regulators.) It may be that Verizon will not want to deal with Lenovo (for whatever reason) and go to another OEM, like LG or HTC, which may be hungrier (for whatever reason) for a guaranteed slice of Verizon's customers.

 

[maxman1]

Motorola has the exclusive on the DROID brand. Doubt this will change if the Lenovo purchase goes through.

Posted via Android Central App

My understanding is that it's Verizon (not Moto) who licenses the Droid name from Lucas Films & if so, can enter time-specific contracts to manufacture their lineup as they wish. This assumption was the premise of my original question as our expectations Motorola would continue to provide the Droid lineup post Lenovo.

Sent from my Droid RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk2

 

[Ry]

My understanding is that it's Verizon (not Moto) who licenses the Droid name from Lucas Films & if so, can enter time-specific contracts to manufacture their lineup as they wish. This assumption was the premise of my original question as our expectations Motorola would continue to provide the Droid lineup post Lenovo.

Sent from my Droid RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk2

Lenovo would assume all of Motorola's prior commitments, just as Google assumed all of Motorola prior contracts.

Example: Google's formal acquisition of Motorola occurred in May of 2012. And we still got new DROIDs (DROID RAZR M, DROID RAZR HD, DROID RAZR MAXX HD) that Fall. Motorola likely has the 2014 DROIDs in development. It would probably cost Verizon if they canceled.

 

[doogald]

My understanding is that it's Verizon (not Moto) who licenses the Droid name from Lucas Films & if so, can enter time-specific contracts to manufacture their lineup as they wish. This assumption was the premise of my original question as our expectations Motorola would continue to provide the Droid lineup post Lenovo.

That's right - Verizon has the brand agreement with Lucas Films.

Here is the story I referenced earlier: Motorola now exclusive Droid partner to Verizon | Mobile - CNET News

Key quotes:

Starting with the Droid Ultra lineup, Motorola will be the only smartphone manufacturer to build Droid smartphones, Verizon marketing executive Jeff Dietel told CNET on Tuesday.

The partnership locks up a prime flagship slot for Motorola, which is badly in need of hit smartphones to turn itself around. While many vendors are opting to release their phones on multiple carriers, exclusives are seen as valuable because they guarantee a certain amount of marketing heft by the carrier.

Some more interesting quotes:

Dietel said the Droid Ultra lineup would remain Verizon's flagship smartphone for a while, and promised a longer shelf life for the products than past "hero" products. [...]

The three different devices, which come out simultaneously on August 20, give Verizon a lot to talk about, Dietel said. He added that he recognized the quick pace of device launches and worked closely with Motorola to ensure the longevity of the device.

This suggests that Verizon will not be rushing new Droids to market - I think we can assume that means no earlier than this summer. And also that Motorola has committed to continue upgrading and supporting the device into the future, which presumes that we will continue to see updates going forward (for example, soon to 4.4.2, and likely to the "L" version this fall.) So far, all of this has come true - Motorola has provided a couple of OTAs, and a very fast update to KitKat. I think that we have nothing to complain about.

Based on the wording of this story, as long as Verizon continues the Droid brand, they will be made by Motorola. The thing is - this is just a report. Nobody truly knows the contract. I looked on Verizon Wireless's website for any official announcements about this, but there is nothing on their web site.

 

[Ry]

That's right - Verizon has the brand agreement with Lucas Films.

I don't think anyone is debating where the actual DROID name comes from.

This suggests that Verizon will not be rushing new Droids to market - I think we can assume that means no earlier than this summer. And also that Motorola has committed to continue upgrading and supporting the device into the future, which presumes that we will continue to see updates going forward (for example, soon to 4.4.2, and likely to the "L" version this fall.) So far, all of this has come true - Motorola has provided a couple of OTAs, and a very fast update to KitKat. I think that we have nothing to complain about.

That lines up with next iteration being released around a year from the previous iteration.

Plus, Punit Soni of Motorola already said the devices created and released on their watch will get updates for "24 months".

Based on the wording of this story, as long as Verizon continues the Droid brand, they will be made by Motorola. The thing is - this is just a report. Nobody truly knows the contract. I looked on Verizon Wireless's website for any official announcements about this, but there is nothing on their web site.

Again, Motorola is the current supplier to Verizon of the DROID-branded phones. Yes, you're right. No one knows the contract. But based on the publicly available information, I am not doubting we'll see new Motorola DROIDs for Verizon later this year - regardless of Lenovo.

And on speculation - if there's an "out" clause (which I highly doubt), it'll likely work both ways.

 

[Unobtanium]

When the 2013 Motorola DROID lineup was released, it was also announced that Motorola would be the exclusive partner for the DROID line.

This doesn't change any of the previous Samsung and HTC DROIDs previously released.

Posted via Android Central App

Thanks for the clarification.

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