What a botched launch this is turning out to be!

[grooks]

Based upon my experience in an AT&T store this afternoon, customization option is only available to those who are currently with AT&T or those who wish to switch and sign a new contract.

If you wish to purchase the phone outright and customize it, their computer systems will not allow it. They do not want someone to purchase the phone then unlock it and take it elsewhere.

 

[Travisimo]

haven't all your bullet points not been established already? i don't think anyone here has said this has been a smooth launch. do you need for everyone to confirm your opinion of "botched launch"?.

what if we all say you're right, blotched launch. okay. now what.
and a company had an unsmooth launch of a product. has this affected you personally in some way?

I'd rather it be a smooth launch and I'd love to be wrong. It's just a phone and just a discussion board... it's not bothering me nearly as much as you've been led to believe (which is usually the case on message boards). I'm all for intelligent discussion, and if mine is one of the few voices that tell it like it is, then so be it. I don't see anything wrong in talking about the problems with the launch. I hope that my comments affect you as little as the botched launch has affected me.

 

[Paisley]

I'd rather it be a smooth launch and I'd love to be wrong. It's just a phone and just a discussion board... it's not bothering me neither as much as you've been led to believe (which is usually the case on message boards). I'm all for intelligent discussion, and if mine is one of the few voices that tell it like it is, then so be it. I don't see anything wrong in talking about the problems with the launch. I hope that my comments affect you as little as the botched launch has affected me.

oh, i thought your exclamation points and you're 'i'm passing' b/c of the launch, "back peddling" kind of stuff was an indication it was affecting you in some way.

so now i'm asking. so what? and why would you "love to be wrong"? just curious.

 

[Travisimo]

oh, i thought your placed exclamation points and you're 'i'm passing' b/c of the launch, "back peddling" kind of stuff was an indication it was affecting you in some way.

so now i'm asking. so what? and why would you "love to be wrong"? just curious.

So what? Just because a "botched launch" isn't the end of the world doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it. I don't understand why you seem to be so upset that I am highlighting problems with the way this launch was handled? Is there a reason why I shouldn't be able to talk about it? Or even list off some bullet points on how the launch misfired? It reeks of those Apple fanboys who apologize for every misstep that Apple makes. That's why I have chosen over the last few years to use a variety of devices - Android/iOS, Xbox/PS, etc. I never have to worry about defending my purchase (or lack thereof). I have no problem intelligently highlighting the feats and failures of companies who are only in business because we buy their products. I have no problem blasting the carriers for their shenanigans either.

So my apologies if you are personally offended... my wish is that it didn't bother you so much that I criticize a corporation for mistakes that affect their customers.

 

[Paisley]

So what? Just because a "botched launch" isn't the end of the world doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it. I don't understand why you seem to be so upset that I am highlighting problems with the way this launch was handled? Is there a reason why I shouldn't be able to talk about it? Or even list off some bullet points on how the launch misfired? It reeks of those Apple fanboys who apologize for every misstep that Apple makes. That's why I have chosen over the last few years to use a variety of devices - Android/iOS, Xbox/PS, etc. I never have to worry about defending my purchase (or lack thereof). I have no problem intelligently highlighting the feats and failures of companies who are only in business because we buy their products. I have no problem blasting the carriers for their shenanigans either.

So my apologies if you are personally offended... my wish is that it didn't bother you so much that I criticize a corporation for mistakes that affect their customers.

go for it. like i said, maybe i was just mistaken that you were affected by the exclamation points and you're passing b/c of the way the launch was handled. and yes, even your bullet points. please continue.

 

[lostaggie]

The launch is definitely not perfect but whatever...

Went by the AT&T store and got my card. That was a mess. Just placed my order and it says delivery 9/3. So much for 4 days.

 

[Matt-Helm]

I walked into the AT&T store at 10:15 and bought a Moto X. Botched launch? Nope. Perception is a *****.

 

[rajeshr68]

I walked into the AT&T store at 10:15 and bought a Moto X. Botched launch? Nope. Perception is a *****.

I'm not sure you and I are the target market for the botched launch - if you are on this board, you probably have made a decision one way or the other. Most folks that I see at the stores are not as sure and are open to choices. If the key feature of this phone is "customization", it should be available easily on launch.

Here, where Rogers only sells the phone in black and white, there's not much to distinguish this from the other phones (maybe only size). As for features, Samsungs GS4 has all the cool gimmicks - they may not really be usable in the real world, but all those gimmicks demo well to the average consumer. To their credit, the Rogers sales folks tried to get the two other people in store to look at the Moto X, but one chose the iPhone 5 and one chose the GS4. It's going to be a tough battle for Moto in Canada (at least).

 

[Mac58]

The corporate AT&T store here in my area has a white one on display, but absolutely NOTHING in terms of advertising or promotion. There aren't any colors to look at, no signage, not even a sticker in the window. In fact, it was being displayed right alongside every other Android phone. So much for seeing the colors in person before deciding on which one to buy. At least the store worker knew what the thing was and that you had to get a code to customize it online.

Average Joe is not going to know anything about this phone when walking into the AT&T store. They may even see the phone sitting there without any knowledge that you can actually customize it online. I just can't believe they haven't done a better job with this launch. The Moto X is the phone that could have truly been Google's "iPhone" moment. Now it's like they've done everything to actually discourage people from buying it: exclusive to AT&T, no engraving, no buying online, and now it looks like they might not even be able to meet their touted "4 day" turnaround:

Motorola hedges a bit on getting your custom Moto X to you in 4 days | Android Central

You guys can be apologists all you want, but I won't. I don't apologize for Apple when they screw up like with the maps debacle either. I am a fan of all technology with no particular attachment to any one device, manufacturer, or operating system. I'm just disappointed because this could have been handled much better. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and I'm likely going to wait this one out. I'm hoping there aren't any early adopter growing pains for initial devices that get shipped out... it's almost like this AT&T exclusivity deal was a way to beta test the system (even though they somewhat did that by letting the bloggers order phones early).

Interesting. I went into my local AT&T store and they had a entire counter dedicated to the moto X. It had its own tablet/ computer screen which allowed you to customize your moto X on screen to see what it looked like and they had a good portion of the backings available to look at for color and accent colors. They did not have a black woven black or regular black their, but the more vibrant colors they did have. They also had the white 16gb version there along with cards for purchasing the 16gb and 32gb version. I think that maybe the store you walked in just didnt have the right marketing gear to do this and will have it soon or just wasnt informed to do it, but mine had it and I assume that others will have it as well.

Its funny because while I was there people walked over to ask specifically about what that phone was and why all of those colors were on display. I think launch day in my particular store was pretty good, but I guess everyone perceives things differently. Either way Im sure Moto/Google is fine with how things are going along

 

[Rule9]

Have you tried a primal scream? I don't know what problems you're having but I went in and they made me one with scintillating colors and hot gogo dancers on it right on the spot.

 

[TheLibertarian]

It's day one, ease up, kiddo. Kicking and screaming isn't going to go any good here... Patience is a virtue...

 

[mech1164]

Well this launch is very hit or miss depending on what store you go to. I was in NYC today and decided to go into one of the busy Att stores I passed by. That store did have the X on display. That said the sales person took a moment to figure out where it was in the store. Wasn't really his fault though, the phone was just there on the wall. Nothing special about it just there with the rest. No kiosk, no display of options, nada, zilch.

I'll run by the big store in gsp in Paramus tomorrow. Hopefully they will have their stuff together. At the moment I kinda doubt that.

If this launch does go as bad as some are saying it just shows that Google isn't putting it's backing into this. Take for example how Att did the L920 launch or the 1020. Advertising all over, staff pushing hard on them. That's what happens when you have the developer pushing it like Microsoft did for Nokia. Compare that to Google that actually owns Motorola. It's crickets by example.

The next few weeks are going to be interesting.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

 

[Aquila]

Not sure why, but the site seems to work perfectly.

Nexus through spacetime.

 

[jameskk1]

I went into one of the local at&t stores in my area expecting to see a nice display with sample colors or something... instead they didn't even have a Moto X on display (they had the info card and stand where it was supposed to be but the actual phone was missing). I am going to a larger store in the next town over from me later this evening and I am sure they will have the colors on display.

 

[Raptor007]

First it was the AT&T exclusivity for Moto Maker. Either they sold out or they weren't confident in their ability to build enough customized units for all US carriers. Either way, it's bad for the consumer.

Next, they back-peddled on customized engraving, which was one of the highlighted features of Moto Maker. And while engraving your phone may greatly reduce your resale value, for many this isn't a concern. Removing features like this does not show confidence in Moto's ability to make these phones, though I'm certainly glad they pulled the feature rather than producing shoddy engraving.

And now, you can't even buy the phone on launch day from the Moto Maker website! You have to go to the store to purchase the phone and then come back to the site to order your customized version. Customizing and buying your phone from the Moto Maker site was what most of us were waiting for. And they had plenty of time to prepare, including a beta test from all of you fine bloggers out there! Do you think this would happen to Apple at launch? Of course not. Apple has customers orders of magnitude greater than Moto ordering their phone on launch day (or preorder day, whichever the case may be). And while their website may go down or there activation servers may take a hit, they at least know how to launch a phone! They don't give carriers special treatment and they launch when they say their going to launch.

Now I think Apple has lost touch with the competitive market, but I'm starting to wonder if this Moto X is going to be a flop, launching with very little fanfare other than us tech geeks who look at all the blogs? They really could have made a big splash by launching Moto Maker for all carriers simultaneously. They almost went communication silent the last week or two here before launch, almost as if they weren't ready or if they wanted it to be a quiet launch...

First of all you are way off the mark and clearly look through rose colored glasses when it comes to Apple. Apple has had their fair share of BOTCHED events. Lets talk about the antenna problem with the iPhone 4, then move onto the questionable way AT&T and others show the signal bars on the phone being higher than the actual signal being received. This wasn't a carrier issue as it was an Apple issue in how it was configured. Then there was teh infamous white iPhone 4 that took nearly 1 year to get out the door because they couldn't get it right for what 10 months. Next move onto the sheer volume of defects in producing the iPhone 5 that was a great QC issue and then move along to iMaps what a friggin joke that is. Then we have of course SIRI, the app they neutered and removed all of the great abilities it had before they gobbled it up. So when you live in a glass house watch out for those with stones in their hands.

 

[Raptor007]

Motorola has been making phones far longer than Apple. The only reason Apple had to do an exclusivity deal with AT&T back then was because they were just entering the market. It's not at all the same thing and you know it. It's a different time, and I will stand firm in my opinion that this launch has been handled very poorly.

Apple went with AT&T exclusively because Verizon wasn't willing to play the Apple control game. It was also easier for Apple to roll out GSM phones globally than it was to develop GSM and CDMA variants. Next you have LTE iphones that cannot do simultaneous voice and data on LTE (Verizon) because it lacks separate antenna's. If you don't know what you are talking about don't comment.

 

[Raptor007]

No, it has NOT been clear that you would have to buy a card from the AT&T store first. In fact, it was reported many times that you'd be able to purchase the phone either way. And in fact, you WILL be able to buy the phone directly on the Moto Maker site... just not yet, apparently because it says "coming soon". If you e-mail yourself a design that you have created on the Moto Maker site, the e-mail you get will say the following:

"Nice work. Now that you've got a phone designed, you can visit your local AT&T store to purchase a Moto X Card. Then, finish your order.

Prefer to wait until Moto X is available online? Register and we'll email you the minute you can submit your order!"

So it is very clear that you can EITHER buy the phone in-store and then use the code online, OR you can wait to buy the phone directly from the site. There was nothing said by Motorola (or anyone else) that you would HAVE to buy the phone in-store on launch day first. Not only is it disappointing that Moto could not get online ordering ready for launch day, the lack of communication is even more disappointing.

Don't forget Moto made a deal with Devil and gave AT&T the control. AT&T is NOT allowing you to buy a Moto X outright with the Motomaker you can only do upgrades, this isn't Moto's fault so much as they should NEVER have given control to AT&T for a few bucks. But it could also be AT&T could refuse the phone on their network as a discounted phone.

In the US wireless customers are cheap, lazy, and too full of themselves to realize buying a subsidized phone screws you outright. We pay for a cheaper phone, but actually pay for the subsidy in the form of $20 or so a month in carrier fees. Plus you pay an ETF that when you actually count it out does not work out mathematically. Verizon's ETF is $350 if you break before 2 years is up (AT&T is the same I believe) and they reduce it by $10 a month, do the math that is $240 so if you break your contract at 23 months you are still paying $130 to break. Meanwhile the carriers have charged you $20 a month times 23 months for the carrier fees so about $460 on top of the subsidized phone of $300 you just paid $760 for a phone that retails for $599-649.

But IF you buy it outright you still pay that $20 per month carrier fee so you WE get screwed. Look at the rest of the world, they pay far cheaper voice, data, text rates and pay higher for their phones. I for one would rather pay a higher one time price and save a lot more over the 1-2 year window of the contract.

Plus if you go with the new programs AT&T & Verizon cooked up you are paying for the $20 per month carrier fee, the upgrade fee's and with AT&T you need to turn the phone back in if you want to upgrade again before 2 years is up. Its a lose, lose deal and people don't get it.

 

[Raptor007]

I see Travisimo's point. This should be an easier purchase and motomaker should have been good to go.

I walked into an AT&T store earlier this morning and they don't even have the phone on display. I don't get it.

Blame AT&T, they are the ones who can't get out of their own way when it comes to selling a phone.

 

[XavierMatt]

nexus 4 was worse.

HTC ONE ~ Android Central App

 

[Raptor007]

The corporate AT&T store here in my area has a white one on display, but absolutely NOTHING in terms of advertising or promotion. There aren't any colors to look at, no signage, not even a sticker in the window. In fact, it was being displayed right alongside every other Android phone. So much for seeing the colors in person before deciding on which one to buy. At least the store worker knew what the thing was and that you had to get a code to customize it online.

Average Joe is not going to know anything about this phone when walking into the AT&T store. They may even see the phone sitting there without any knowledge that you can actually customize it online. I just can't believe they haven't done a better job with this launch. The Moto X is the phone that could have truly been Google's "iPhone" moment. Now it's like they've done everything to actually discourage people from buying it: exclusive to AT&T, no engraving, no buying online, and now it looks like they might not even be able to meet their touted "4 day" turnaround:

Motorola hedges a bit on getting your custom Moto X to you in 4 days | Android Central

You guys can be apologists all you want, but I won't. I don't apologize for Apple when they screw up like with the maps debacle either. I am a fan of all technology with no particular attachment to any one device, manufacturer, or operating system. I'm just disappointed because this could have been handled much better. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and I'm likely going to wait this one out. I'm hoping there aren't any early adopter growing pains for initial devices that get shipped out... it's almost like this AT&T exclusivity deal was a way to beta test the system (even though they somewhat did that by letting the bloggers order phones early).

If you walk into a wireless store today and didn't do a bit of research you deserve to get bent over. Do you research cars, appliances for your home, doctors, fitness equipment. People will spend more time reading Facebook, twitter, sending crappy images on Instagram (and video too oh great) but won't bother to read anything about what they are buying before hand. Stupid is as stupid does. - Forest Gump said it best.