Motorola Droid Bionic "Targa" XT875 pre-release thread - Part 2

[jasaero]

I just think it's hilarious about how many people think Moto failed with this phone. How can you fail when you're still the most technologically advanced phone on the market? When I read some of these comments it feels like people were expecting Moto to be the only guys even releasing a dual-core, LTE phone! They seem surprised at the announcement of other phones, and angry that Moto didn't beat other manufactures to the market by a larger margin. Some people are unreal.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Just because Sanjay Jah thinks his phone will be first out doesn't really make it so. I've been more critical of Moto than about anyone on the thread and will not ease up on them related to promises and delivery, but will say they have done extremely well if they end up being the first out with a dual-core LTE, particularly once you factor in that they created the LTE bits for it. The problem is that they promised such a thing WAY earlier than they are delivering it. They promised a quarter before everyone else, but will end up delivering in a similar time frame to everyone else.

Also, this fiasco means they have probably blew through WAY more R&D cash while getting ZERO LTE smartphone revenue to get here than their competitors and when they are the weakest financially of the top three, that's a VERY bad thing. And particularly bad for prospects of future devices unless they can somehow miraculously start outselling their competitors to put them in a better profit situation where they are building cash to invest in future products rather than blowing through it on losses and devices that never see the light of day.

It will be a very relevant and competitive device, but it's just not going to have any real time as the monopoly of Dual Core LTE phones to really rake in the revenues. Motorola really needs their overall share of the Android device market to increase a good bit too fix their financial position if they want to invest in IP for their hardware such as this LTE chip. You can't afford to develop IP, build, and sell devices with their current market share and still show a profit.

[rkeller62]

...Also, this fiasco means they have probably blew through WAY more R&D cash while getting ZERO LTE smartphone revenue to get here than their competitors and when they are the weakest financially of the top three, that's a VERY bad thing. And particularly bad for prospects of future devices unless they can somehow miraculously start outselling their competitors to put them in a better profit situation where they are building cash to invest in future products rather than blowing through it on losses and devices that never see the light of day...

hmmmm, lets think about this using very conservative numbers:
Cost to buy a competitors LTE Chip - $5
Sales of Motorola LTE Smartphones in Q3 & Q4 - 200,000
Savings - $1,000,000

Seems like, even with VERY modest numbers based on no semblance of knowing the real ones, this was a very good decision and R&D $ spent will be recouped quickly.

[GRTK_Brandon]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Just because Sanjay Jah thinks his phone will be first out doesn't really make it so. I've been more critical of Moto than about anyone on the thread and will not ease up on them related to promises and delivery, but will say they have done extremely well if they end up being the first out with a dual-core LTE, particularly once you factor in that they created the LTE bits for it. The problem is that they promised such a thing WAY earlier than they are delivering it. They promised a quarter before everyone else, but will end up delivering in a similar time frame to everyone else.

Also, this fiasco means they have probably blew through WAY more R&D cash while getting ZERO LTE smartphone revenue to get here than their competitors and when they are the weakest financially of the top three, that's a VERY bad thing. And particularly bad for prospects of future devices unless they can somehow miraculously start outselling their competitors to put them in a better profit situation where they are building cash to invest in future products rather than blowing through it on losses and devices that never see the light of day.

It will be a very relevant and competitive device, but it's just not going to have any real time as the monopoly of Dual Core LTE phones to really rake in the revenues. Motorola really needs their overall share of the Android device market to increase a good bit too fix their financial position if they want to invest in IP for their hardware such as this LTE chip. You can't afford to develop IP, build, and sell devices with their current market share and still show a profit.

It's hard to respond to something written based on pure speculation. Motorola didn't spend anymore on R&D than they were originally planning since the Targa was coming out regardless. I also believe they turned up profit this quarter, which they can spend however they choose. Last time I checked, I didn't hear anything about Moto going under or employee lay-offs. Seems like they can afford to develop IP just fine. You do realize Motorola has like 8 (estimate) other devices currently being sold, right? Did you know the D3 was sold out online? Do you know if other manufacturers haven't made different dual-core + LTE variants other than the ones we've seen? Do you know when the Bionic is being released? Do you know when the SGSII is being released? Or when any of the other comparable devices are going to be released? Point is, you don't know anything to have a conversation about Motorola's business strategies or anyone else's for that matter, so let's leave the discussion to the Bionic. Seeing as how TI is possibly going to be Google's partner in launching ICS, we know the Prime (at the very least) won't be making an appearance until November or possibly later if we're still on a Q4 release for ICS. I believe anyone still interested in the Bionic will have a great phone until at least this time next year. I believe the next few months are a good time to make a purchase. Anything after will only be outdated sooner.

[pimfram]

Let's give Moto at least a little credit for not just throwing a lemon out there to make a quick buck. They realized their first phone wasn't going to cut it, so they fast-tracked their next phone in-line and it'll be out in a month's time. Did they mess up? Of course. But how many other manufacturers would have just released the junk phone (a la HTC and the TB) just to say they had the first dual-core with LTE? As has been said, the D3 has been selling like hotcakes and I'd be surprised if the Bionic didn't follow suit.

[FAUguy]

07-19-2011 10:10 PM
The eagle has landed, should have pictures for you guys tomorrow afternoon. Well if it's here before I go see Captain America

So that's been about 2 weeks ago?

[ronaldheld]

FAUguy, any sign that your review phone is coming within a month?

[carpediem33]

This is one funny post....funny in a sad kinda way.....mentioning it being outdated and the GS2 hasent even hit US waters yet...if thats the case the GS2 will be outdated once it reaches the US. Screen and Touchwiz makes for a waaaay more advanced phone? The Exynos and OMAP 4 4430 are decent, comparable. If its benchmarks....has anyone seen the recent Anandtech full review of the Droid 3?

The iPhone 5 wont even have LTE....the vigor will probably be a next year phone....how much ram will the iPhone 5 have...webtop anyone....

I am lost at how ppl think the Bionic is outdated...seriously.... Is the Atrix outdated already? I dont feel it is.

Slightly outdated:
http://www.bgr.com/2011/08/01/motoro...-4g-lte-phone/

[tdizzel]

Slightly outdated:
http://www.bgr.com/2011/08/01/motoro...-4g-lte-phone/

Outdated even though its successor might not be released until next year? How does that work exactly? If that's the case isn't every phone ever released outdated immediately?

[rideflat]

Is everyone just ignoring me?

sent from my broken phone

[jasaero]

hmmmm, lets think about this using very conservative numbers:
Cost to buy a competitors LTE Chip - $5
Sales of Motorola LTE Smartphones in Q3 & Q4 - 200,000
Savings - $1,000,000

Seems like, even with VERY modest numbers based on no semblance of knowing the real ones, this was a very good decision and R&D $ spent will be recouped quickly.

It's highly unlikely that they would save money doing this. Not impossible, but unlikely. If developing such chips was affordable most companies would just develop their own. Motorola has free access to wireless chip IP like this through cross licensing that other manufacturers probably don't is their primary advantage. They still have to sell more devices to amortize this development cost before they can even make money on the phones though when their competitors just buy the chip and build it into the dollars they charge for each phone.

Not to mention the 3 month delay alone probably cost at least the $1,000,000 you suggested.

[jasaero]

It's hard to respond to something written based on pure speculation. Motorola didn't spend anymore on R&D than they were originally planning since the Targa was coming out regardless. I also believe they turned up profit this quarter, which they can spend however they choose. Last time I checked, I didn't hear anything about Moto going under or employee lay-offs. Seems like they can afford to develop IP just fine. You do realize Motorola has like 8 (estimate) other devices currently being sold, right? Did you know the D3 was sold out online? Do you know if other manufacturers haven't made different dual-core + LTE variants other than the ones we've seen? Do you know when the Bionic is being released? Do you know when the SGSII is being released? Or when any of the other comparable devices are going to be released? Point is, you don't know anything to have a conversation about Motorola's business strategies or anyone else's for that matter, so let's leave the discussion to the Bionic. Seeing as how TI is possibly going to be Google's partner in launching ICS, we know the Prime (at the very least) won't be making an appearance until November or possibly later if we're still on a Q4 release for ICS. I believe anyone still interested in the Bionic will have a great phone until at least this time next year. I believe the next few months are a good time to make a purchase. Anything after will only be outdated sooner.

First off moto did lose money again link. $56 million more gone actually. Combined with $81 million the first quarter this year. Then Sanjay pointed out 3rd quarter will also be weak because Bionic won't be out until the end. This will mean that Q4 has to have a HUGELY successful quarter to make money. They will have bionic to try and make that happen, but it really seems this year is going to be down again.

And I really have nothing against them developing their own IP and such, but they really need devices like the Bionic to actually be more ahead of the curve when they hit so they can have a serious shot at being the market share leader and not trade places as the number 2 or 3 android vendor. Apple sells 3X+ the number of devices as Motorola with effectively 2.5 products do develop TOTAL. They have a phone and tablet that carry two different radios. I would like to see Motorola with this level of success and I think they could get there if they don't go broke first.

[kwalker23]

Looks like my friend didn't lie to me about the Bionic release date...

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/08/03...re/#more-42046

In case u were wondering what I'm talking about read my previous post a couple of days ago

[ronaldheld]

If it is that date, then Web/CS sales would be on the 1st, another hinted at date?

[GRTK_Brandon]

Definitely looking forward to this. Now we just need to see some leaks. Some of these phones we don't know too much about. Do we have any info on whether or not the Stratosphere is the SGSII or just the Epic rehash?

[AlexKidd1977]

Outdated even though its successor might not be released until next year? How does that work exactly? If that's the case isn't every phone ever released outdated immediately?

Just like every PC sold today.

--Kidd