Finally, a manufacturer that can stand up to Samsung’s $500 million marketing budget. The Wall Street Journal is reporting this evening that Motorola will be spending about $500 million in marketing the new Moto X when it gets announced and released later this summer. The WSJ’s sources are also expecting the device to be marketed both domestically and internationally (in select markets of course). The device is also expected to hit all four major US carriers. That includes AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.
Just to put the $500 million in marketing in perspective. In 2012, we reported earlier this year that Samsung spent a total of just shy of $500 million in marketing all of their phones and tablets. Samsung makes a ton of phones. But mostly only the high-end ones get marketed and get commercials. So that’s the Galaxy S line, Galaxy Note 2, and Note 10.1, just to name a few. Motorola is planning on spending Samsung’s entire 2012 budget on one device. Looks like Motorola means business with the Moto X.
These same sources from the WSJ are also reporting that Google and Motorola have minimized the amount of bloatware on the Moto X. They are also saying that we’ll see competitive pricing with their competitors like the Galaxy S4. Which means $199 on-contract and $599 off-contract. Although with the specs that have been rumored, I expected it to be much cheaper.
The Moto X is said to be sporting a 4.3-inch 720p display, dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, along with a 10MP camera and a Droid Razr Maxx HD-like battery inside. It’s right there in the middle of mid-range and high-end phones. But I think the real thing here will be the price. So I’m hoping the “competitive with competitors” part of this report is off and it’ll be considerably cheaper than other phones. Say $199-299 off contract?
How many of you are excited for the Moto X from Motorola and Google? Let us know in the comments below.