Motorola has quietly been slashing the price of its popular Moto 360 smartwatch – one of the most anticipated devices of 2014 and the first round smartwatch to hit the market. The Moto 360 bucked the square or rectangle look that Sony, LG and Samsung were pushing and produced a beautiful smartwatch, worthy of wearing out for an elegant evening, and since then, the other manufacturers are following the trend. It was somewhat pricey and certainly had a few flaws, but it sold very well even at its higher cost. The price came down in the US almost a month ago to $165 from its normal $249 – this is the leather band model – and now Best Buy in Canada has lowered its pricing by $80 to $199.99 for the leather band model and $249.99 for the metal band model, however the sale is marked as ending May 6! It is possible some more sales will popup with Mother’s Day around the corner.
This is most likely because of there is a second generation Moto 360 coming soon with a possibility of offering more customizations. With the new Apple Watch raising everybody’s smartwatch awareness, the new Moto 360 will have its work cut out. Rumors have pegged an increase in the display resolution from 360 x 290 to 360 x 360 and the possibility of losing the ‘black’ spot at the bottom of the display. We are hoping that its poor battery life will be a thing of the past and one of the ways to help that would be to jettison the old TI OMAP 3630, a processor from 2011 using 45nm technology and throw in a Snapdragon 400 with 28nm technology. We are also hoping that the Moto 360 be designed to make it easier to switch out watch bands. Although it is a standard 22mm size, some work is involved in replacing the bands – both leather and metal. It would be nice to see an increased use of Moto Maker with the Moto 360, allowing the customer to personalize the watch even more than just different bands. The Apple Watch is in a store where potential customers can pick them up and try them on which helps in the buyer experience and at least with Moto Maker, the buyer would have some more interaction and options available to them.
