According to Google, we shouldn’t expect much from Motorola’s upcoming devices. Google’s CFO, Patrick Pichette was quite open about it, and clearly stated that after purchasing Motorola, Google inherited a pipeline. It would be a waste of valuable resources to cease production on all the devices that were set in motion before the acquisition. Essentially, Motorola is still going to push out everything it was working on before Google came along, and then once those products are out of the way, we’ll start to see more “wow,” or hopefully we will anyway.
“The case with Motorola is that we’ve inherited a pipeline. Motorola has a great set of products, but they’re not really like “wow” by Google standards. Dennis Woodside and his team have inherited 18 months of pipeline that we have to drain right now.”
That is certainly discouraging to hear, especially when you consider Pichette’s words. As he says, Motorola’s upcoming products are probably not going to be anything extraordinary. Pichette did say not to worry though, because they’re “actually building the next wave of innovation and product lines” simultaneously.
Many are worried that Google will favor Motorola in regards to future Nexus devices since they now own the company. During a recent interview, Android’s VP of Engineering Hiroshi Lockheimer once again stated that they [Google] treat Motorola no different than any other mobile manufacturer.
“We treat all of our partners fairly. Motorola we consider a partner just like HTC or Samsung. It’s almost as if they are a separate company.”
Personally, I find this a little silly, and even more so when you consider Samsung’s strong foothold on the Android market. I don’t mind that Samsung is dominating, because they do offer superior devices when compared to other manufacturers, but it would be gratifying to see other viable options out there. Android is unequivocally about freedom, and choice, so it seems silly that other manufacturers are trailing so far behind. If Google was to focus a little more attention on upcoming Motorola devices, ultimately I think the consumers would benefit.
Still, Google stands by their claims that they will not favor Motorola over other companies in the mobile industry. Furthermore, the rumored ‘X Phone’ is probably not going to launch anytime soon. First the two companies have to “drain” the current “pipeline,” before truly moving on.