Motorola Mobility wants to play a stronger role in the enterprise business. Traditionally aiming the majority of its Android devices toward mainstream consumers, the company is now looking for ways to lure business folk in. It’s offering up to $200 to any person or business that trades in a smartphone — namely an iPhone or BlackBerry — in favor of a Motorola handset.
In order to take advantage of this offer, one must get in touch with a participating carrier, since Motorola doesn’t sell its smartphones directly to customers.
For a long time, RIM’s BlackBerry held the title as the most business-savvy smartphone, but recently iPhone has been the reigning champion in this category. Meanwhile, Android is being shunned outright by most enterprise customers for being incapable of handling the business lifestyle. Motorola aims to prove that this isn’t the reality, but is instead a false perception.
Christy Wyatt, general manager of mobile devices at Motorola Mobility, often works with businesses to get them to adopt Android and unlock its full potential in the enterprise market. Even if a business decides to go with a different vendor, Wyatt is trying to promote the platform as a whole, and therefore would continue working with that business. “There’s a shocking lack of support in this area,” she said. “We’re trying to keep the big picture in mind.”
This viewpoint makes sense since Google and Motorola Mobility are almost ready to tie the knot, but Wyatt says the company will also accept competing Android phone trade-ins in addition to iPhones and BlackBerrys.