What a botched launch this is turning out to be!

[Raptor007]

You have 2 things going on in your posts. One is obviously upsettedness that you're not getting something, and the other is sort of this concern that they're not going to be successful, but it's a sort of angry concern which doesn't really make much sense. You can forget the latter, cuz they'll do just fine. And guess what else, you can't always get what you want, whether that be a phone in color on day 1, or whatever else is leaving a bad taste in your mouth about it. I'm not apologizing for them cuz who gives a s--t, what is it to you? a couple of days? Sprint's not getting this phone for weeks probably which is way more of a bummer than not getting it on day 1. i'm not getting a color either. so what. yeah i want pink buttons, but dear heavens. Ya know what a botched launch is? Palm pre, and party because of it that whole o/s is dead. Now that's some suck-a-- s--t to be pissed about.

I mean apple fans have been living with boring black and white phones for years and years and gee they are not GUARANTEED squat on launch day. Supposedly apple sells out of phones in 1 day which I find very, very had to believe but hey they NEVER release sales figures for anything it's always just lumped as iOS, MAC, iTunes etc.

 

[Raptor007]

Should be Motorola's problem if they want to sell a load of Moto X's. AT&T won't care what phone they sell to their consumers as long as they end up getting them on contract. Moto on the other hand should be concerned if AT&T doesn't have the means to push the X.

I beg to differ, AT&T should care if they sell them since they certainly didn't get the Moto Maker exlcusive for x months for free. They pay big money to get certain devices, colors, memory options, all of the carriers do so to spend millions and not maximize the profit is poor business. Then again look at the CEO of that company and how angry he gets about data plans.

 

[Raptor007]

I was able to participate in the beta. I can tell you for sure that they are aware of several issues and are working hard to get the kinks worked out. The executive staff is awesome. I'm a nobody in the tech world and have talked to several of the highest ranking members of Motorola. They are taking this launch "very seriously".

Has any other wireless device OEM done this before? No. Its not an easy thing to do, and it certainly won't be flawless no matter how hard they try. In the US you have to deal with the US Carriers and honestly they will do anything they can to muck up an easy sale, quick transaction and gobs of new customers. I had that happen just 2 weeks ago, and trust me the person who did it doesn't know what is coming their way, but I do.

 

[Raptor007]

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/08/2...ull-retail-have-to-be-attached-to-an-account/

Wow, is this true too? Do I understand this correctly to mean that you can currently only buy a customized Moto X if you are upgrade-eligible? Are they trying to reduce the number of customers who can buy the darn thing so that they can manage the manufacturing process, or is this an AT&T restriction?

So here's how I see it: the defining feature of the Moto X is its customizability through Moto Maker. However, at launch there are the following restrictions:

- Only AT&T customers can use Moto Maker
- Cannot buy one through Motorola directly, only in-store
- Cannot get the engraving yet
- Cannot get the wooden backs yet
- Cannot buy one at full retail / off contract?
- Likely will not get one in the advertised "4 days"
- AT&T stores in my area don't even have displays to see the colors / customization (not even any advertising)

Did I miss anything?

Part AT&T and part Motorola but really it should fall squarely on Hon Hai aka Foxconn. They are making the phones and if they are not ready at the Texas plant then its not Moto's fault. As for the bullet points, you can thank AT&T, its their typical we are going to bend you over and take your wallet and then some because this is the new IPHONE EVERYONE WANTS NOW.

 

[Raptor007]

Lastly, you could just wait for all the kinks to be worked out, get the wood option which is the new "Gold" emblem option on your car anyways. By the time wood is available it will be all worked out. Of course a new hot phone will be out (Galaxy Note 3) and will have you drooling.

 

[Farish]

I mean apple fans have been living with boring black and white phones for years and years and gee they are not GUARANTEED squat on launch day. Supposedly apple sells out of phones in 1 day which I find very, very had to believe but hey they NEVER release sales figures for anything it's always just lumped as iOS, MAC, iTunes etc.

They alway release the first weekend sale figures.

Apple - Press Info - iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

Carriers also will give you their quarterly breakdown on sale figures.

Verizon smartphone revenue up in Q2 2013, half of all 7.5 million activations were iPhones (updated)

If you add up the major carriers sales totals for the year you can get an accurate picture of where those numbers stand at least for the United States.

 

[hodan]

I'm guessing you must be too young to remember when Apple gave AT&T exclusive rights to the iPhone for 2 years.

I'm not. And the iPhone was AT&T exclusive only because Steve Jobs was a master negotiator - and he exchanged exclusivity so that Apple could control the software.

My guess is that AT&T is somehow sharing the cost of the Moto Maker part of this - and gets exclusivity in exchange.

 

[hodan]

Lastly, you could just wait for all the kinks to be worked out, get the wood option which is the new "Gold" emblem option on your car anyways. By the time wood is available it will be all worked out. Of course a new hot phone will be out (Galaxy Note 3) and will have you drooling.

Note 3, iPhone 5S/C, Sony Honami, will be several at least.

 

[Rule9]

I think Google's going to get the last laugh on carriers here. It looks like they've already started pulling the ability to update software features for this phone off of updates needing to come from Motorola and then carrier approval and onto Play Services, likely with the end goal of allowing android updates straight from Google and feature updates from Play Store.
http://www.droid-life.com/2013/08/2...lay-should-make-adding-new-features-a-breeze/

Clever move.

 

[Travisimo]

I think Google's going to get the last laugh on carriers here. It looks like they've already started pulling the ability to update software features for this phone off of updates needing to come from Motorola and then carrier approval and onto Play Services, likely with the end goal of allowing android updates straight from Google and feature updates from Play Store.
http://www.droid-life.com/2013/08/2...lay-should-make-adding-new-features-a-breeze/

Clever move.

Yes, this is the smartest thing Google has done with Android recently. It really solves a bunch of problems: they can iterate faster on core Android apps and services, they can bypass carrier approval, and they can ensure that anyone who forks Android without Google Play support does not get the goodies. Obviously, we'll still need OS updates that go through the carrier when it has anything to do with the radios, etc, but the so-called "fragmentation" is not so much an issue anymore when you can upgrade Google apps and services through Google Play.

 

[Travisimo]

Lastly, you could just wait for all the kinks to be worked out, get the wood option which is the new "Gold" emblem option on your car anyways. By the time wood is available it will be all worked out. Of course a new hot phone will be out (Galaxy Note 3) and will have you drooling.

Out of the dozen+ replies you shot off in a row, I picked this one. I really have no choice but to wait because there is no option for me to buy, even though I do have AT&T service. Well yes, I could buy a plain white or black model, but I couldn't buy a customized one even if I wanted to due to the full retail restriction - which was not made clear in any way by AT&T nor Moto before the site went live. I suspect that they originally planned to have online ordering available at Motomaker.com ready for launch, but either just didn't have it ready, or AT&T interferred as you suggested. Either way, it definitely makes it a "botched launch" in my opinion. Maybe from their perspective, it's going smoothly, but from a potential customer's perspective... it is not. The AT&T exclusivity - we knew about that well in advance - and even though it stinks, at least that part was made clear ahead of time. Having to go to the AT&T store first was not made clear until launch day, nor was the fact that you can not even buy a customized phone unsubsidized. I'd also argue that given so many reports of AT&T stores not having displays, not having employees knowledgeable about the phone, and not having the colors available to look at is also very poor form. So I guess if Moto's desire was to have the quietest launch (outside of the tech bubble here online), then perhaps it's going quite well for them. So I'll admit that "botched" is a matter of perspective... but I was ready to buy a customized phone on launch day on Motomaker.com - and now I cannot, so it's definitely "botched" for me.

 

[rajeshr68]

Part AT&T and part Motorola but really it should fall squarely on Hon Hai aka Foxconn. They are making the phones and if they are not ready at the Texas plant then its not Moto's fault. As for the bullet points, you can thank AT&T, its their typical we are going to bend you over and take your wallet and then some because this is the new IPHONE EVERYONE WANTS NOW.

Why would we blame Hon Hai aka Foxconn? They are a supplier for Motorola and in the end Motorola should shoulder the blame. Motorola has more to lose than AT&T and they should have ensured a successful launch. In the end, the numbers will speak for themselves and we'll find out whether it was a successful launch in the next few months.

 

[gamefreak715]

I am holding my judgment..

Posted via Android Central App

 

[hodan]

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

Glad you got what you wanted. But you're wrong about the botched launch. No 4 day delivery. No engraving. Please pick on me and say that those things don't matter, that you can get the phone soon enough, that engraving just reduces resale, etc. Bottom line is that Moto promised X, Y, Z, and has delivered only X. (Pun intended).

 

[JHBThree]

Glad you got what you wanted. But you're wrong about the botched launch. No 4 day delivery. No engraving. Please pick on me and say that those things don't matter, that you can get the phone soon enough, that engraving just reduces resale, etc. Bottom line is that Moto promised X, Y, Z, and has delivered only X. (Pun intended).

A botched launch would have been them allowing the engraving to go forward even if it was sub par. They made clear that Motomaker was going to be a work in progress, otherwise they would have never made public the 'beta test' for the press. Nothing like this has ever been done before, so there's going to be kinks.

Also, I find it amusing that some of you seem to believe that Motorola is immune from the impact of high demand and set capacity. If you're not getting your phone in 4 days it isn't because they're botching the launch, its because they have to try and keep up with demand for a new phone and new feature.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[hodan]

A botched launch would have been them allowing the engraving to go forward even if it was sub par. They made clear that Motomaker was going to be a work in progress, otherwise they would have never made public the 'beta test' for the press. Nothing like this has ever been done before, so there's going to be kinks.

Also, I find it amusing that some of you seem to believe that Motorola is immune from the impact of high demand and set capacity. If you're not getting your phone in 4 days it isn't because they're botching the launch, its because they have to try and keep up with demand for a new phone and new feature.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

And I likewise find it amusing that you know why engraving is not available - too much demand. Also, no 4 day delivery because - too much demand.
I'm curious, what exactly is Moto's capacity for manufacturing the Moto X, and how far past that number did the demand go to cause these problems?

 

[JHBThree]

And I likewise find it amusing that you know why engraving is not available - too much demand. Also, no 4 day delivery because - too much demand.
I'm curious, what exactly is Moto's capacity for manufacturing the Moto X, and how far past that number did the demand go to cause these problems?

Engraving is not available because the quality of the 'beta' models sucked. Its easy to see in the pictures of customized models. (The engraving is also not engraving at all, but is a silk screen, which can be more complicated to produce for customized models than mass produced models) Custom engravings on devices like this are also pretty unheard of. Not even Apple, which has engraving options for all iPads and iPods, offers it for iPhone.

I'm not sure why you seem to believe that Motorola's capacity for the custom models is not enough. We're talking about a phone that just launched, and a process that can only be tested to a certain extent prior to opening up the process to consumers. Supply constraints and delays happen for pretty much every major phone launch these days, and the Moto X has an additional constraint in the custom build. If orders are taking longer than the expected four days, it is because Motorola has reached the capacity threshold at which orders get delayed.


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[pappy53]

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Google's iPhone moment? Google doesn't need an iPhone moment.. Android controls 80% of the market.. The companies making Android phone don't give a rats behind about an iPhone moment anymore because they are rolling in the money regardless of how Apple changes things up on their end..

The only Android company "rolling in money" is Samsung. And yes, Android does have 80% of the world market. But Android marketshare in the U.S. has been dropping for the last 3 or 4 quarters, and Apple's U.S. marketshare has been increasing. so it looks like Apple is catching up in the U.S., anyway.
And as far as "rolling in money", no one can touch Apple.

 

[hodan]

Engraving is not available because the quality of the 'beta' models sucked. Its easy to see in the pictures of customized models. (The engraving is also not engraving at all, but is a silk screen, which can be more complicated to produce for customized models than mass produced models) Custom engravings on devices like this are also pretty unheard of. Not even Apple, which has engraving options for all iPads and iPods, offers it for iPhone.

I'm not sure why you seem to believe that Motorola's capacity for the custom models is not enough. We're talking about a phone that just launched, and a process that can only be tested to a certain extent prior to opening up the process to consumers. Supply constraints and delays happen for pretty much every major phone launch these days, and the Moto X has an additional constraint in the custom build. If orders are taking longer than the expected four days, it is because Motorola has reached the capacity threshold at which orders get delayed.


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. You admit that Moto "botched" engraving and therefore it's not available. And let me ask you this, if it's not really engraving but is instead silk-screening, why are they calling it engraving?

And are you telling me that they can't test run 1000 backs to see if the process is ready? Is it worth the R&D money to prove the feature before launch?

And if custom engraving is so hard, and no one else does it, then why did Moto even try? We may be debating this issue on the internet, but all Moto did was shoot itself in the foot. And for the record, my dad's custom engraved 60gb iPod 5g, purchased when he retired in 2006, was delivered on time.

As for the demand being overwhelming, all you've provided is your opinion, and for some reason attempted to justify Moto's lie about 4 day delivery.

When you're a giant company, releasing a flagship product to a large consumer market - 100 million AT&T users, if you're at all unsure about ability to deliver on any feature - you don't promise it. Why you can't deliver doesn't matter.

Moto would've been smart to say, "Initial orders may take longer as we smooth out the manufacturing process, but our goal is to have the X in your hands by 4 days after you order." No complaints that way.

 

[Rule9]

The only Android company "rolling in money" is Samsung. And yes, Android does have 80% of the world market. But Android marketshare in the U.S. has been dropping for the last 3 or 4 quarters, and Apple's U.S. marketshare has been increasing. so it looks like Apple is catching up in the U.S., anyway.
And as far as "rolling in money", no one can touch Apple.

We discussed this in another thread where iirc I pointed out to you that those increases and decreases were as small as less than a percent respectively. So in other words, just tiny natural and normal fluctuations. And as you stated, based on USA only. Globally it's the reverse, by much wider margins.