Lenovo’s changing up its Motorola strategy all over again, pivoting back to an emphasis on the latter’s brand name. The Chinese firm has also confirmed that there won’t be another Moto 360 smartwatch coming out any time soon.
To recall, Lenovo had previously announced that it was going to phase out the Motorola name to a new Moto by Lenovo moniker. The news prompted a mixed reception, with many disappointed over the fact that the iconic brand was being left behind. There was also a lot of confusion over how Motorola and Lenovo would co-exist.
It looks like Lenovo has finally decided on a clear strategy going forward. Instead of dropping the Motorola name, the manufacturer’s going to embrace it and place its signature bat wing logo front and center. The shift has apparently come about after a new leadership team took the reins.
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Motorola Chairman and President Aymar de Lencquesaing told CNET that he’s going to reinvigorate the brand using the Moto Z. The modular smartphone made waves last year and sales have supposedly picked up over time due to interest in the Moto Mods accessories.
Motorola unveiled a couple of new Moto Mods at the MWC 2017, highlighting an Alexa-powered Mod, a gamepad for playing games, and a wireless charging mod. De Lencquesaing is promising to make the phone more widely available, expanding beyond Verizon and spending more on marketing.
Intriguingly, Lenovo is looking to gradually transition to the Motorola brand name in all regions. It’s apparently set to reintroduce the Motorola moniker into China and wipe out its own name. Even the company’s Zuk sub-brand will be phased out.
De Lencquesaing also confirmed that Motorola had scrapped plans for a smartwatch after observing that the sales figures from the Moto 360 wasn’t enough to justify another entry in the series. Furthermore, he said that there were too few practical uses for wearables. However, he does have a small set of engineers working on a project for research purposes.