Yesterday, Motorola finally unveiled the Moto X. They also announced it would be available on five carriers in the US. That includes AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular and T-Mobile. Which T-Mobile kind of surprised me since they’ve never really carried a Motorola phone that I can remember. But today, the Chief Marketing Officer from T-Mobile spoke with AllThingsD and confirmed that T-Mobile has no plans to sell the device in their stores.
The Moto X will support T-Mobile’s network, that includes HSPA+ 42mbps and LTE. “The Moto X optimized for T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network will initially be available through Motorola’s channels,” according to Mike Sievert, T-Mobile’s CMO. “We do not plan to stock Moto X devices immediately in our stores but are working closely with Motorola to make the Moto X a great experience for T-Mobile customers.” he added.
Motorola also published a blog post yesterday about the availability:
“In the US, woven black and woven white models will be available at AT&T, Sprint, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless and at national retailers including Best Buy stores with a suggested retail price of $199 with a new two-year agreement.
Additionally, it will be available on all carriers, including T-Mobile, at Motorola.com.”
So far, Motorola hasn’t confirmed the off-contract or unsubsidized price of the Moto X will be. But we have seen the no-contract price at AT&T and US Cellular which start at $575 for the 16GB version. Additionally, if you were looking to buy the Moto X and get onto T-Mobile’ JUMP program, that won’t work. Since you have to put a down payment on a phone and pay EIP every month for it to be eligible for JUMP, the Moto X won’t be eligible since it’s not being sold through T-Mobile. Which sucks, but that’s the way it is.
So the Moto X is technically available for T-Mobile, just not through their store. So you won’t be able to just walk into a T-Mobile store and pick up a Moto X. You’ll be paying full price and grabbing it from Motorola, at least initially. Is this a deal breaker for anyone?