Motorola: We knew Moto G would be a success

Motorola has claimed it knew the Moto G would be a consumer hit, but cedes it could not have anticipated just successful the affordable phone would become.

Having brought the manufacturer back from smartphone obscurity, the Moto G launched late last year to much critical acclaim and consumer interest.

Now, as the second-generation Moto G picks up from its predecessor, Motorola has revealed how it was quietly confident it could make a success of its smartphone comeback.

“The ingredients were always there for a great success,” Simon Collinson, General Manager of International Markets for Motorola Mobility, said.

Addressing the Moto G he added: “We knew it was going to be successful because we looked at some consumer insights saying consumers want to have a great experience and an affordable experience."

“At the time there were 500 million consumers looking to buy their first smartphone and they had two choices. They could buy an old superphone that’s a couple of years old but was, in its day, the big thing, or they could buy an entry level smartphone."

“We didn’t believe that was a good choice. The entry level smartphone tends to be on the wrong version of Android, the screen isn’t a great size and the experience isn’t great."

“Taking those two consumer insights, we decided to not force consumers to go either way but offer a great smartphone experience at an affordable price.”

Despite anticipating a hit, Collinson has revealed the company could never have predicted just how important the Moto G would become, not just to Motorola, but the entire smartphone market.

“The original Moto G was such a phenomenal success. For us it was getting 4/5 stars at its lowest, we couldn’t anticipate that,” he said.

“Wherever we launched it, the Moto G sold out. In India it sold out within a night.”

He added: “Because of the Moto G, in the UK we went from a 0 per cent to 6 per cent share of the smartphone market within a quarter of launch.

“It has been a phenomenal success on any measure. We didn’t know it was going to be the best selling smartphone in Motorola history.”

The second-gen Moto G launched in recent weeks with a larger, 5-inch display lining up alongside a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor and an improved, 8-megapixel primary camera.

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