Motorola’s LaJolla handset was revealed today in the Motorola CLIQ’s source code. The codename, in Spanish, means “the jewel,” but given the lowly specs of the Android phone, it’s unlikely to be anything close to a “gem” in Motorola’s Android portfolio. Still, the idea of the lower-cost LaJolla could very well end up being the jewel in Motorola’s Android strategy. Motorola has their collective mind set on making Android accessible to the entry-level market, and the cheaper LaJolla Android phone may be the key to Motorola’s return to greatness.
The company has been struggling recently – Motorola simply failed to innovate and capitalize on the smartphone boom after the RAZR’s blockbuster success in the mid-2000’s. It’s last chance, most believe, lays with the Android platform. And things are looking good for Moto.
The low-end handset market is far larger than the market for headlining smartphones like the Motorola DROID. Samsung and Nokia know this all too well – they make a killing selling cheap mobile phones to people in emerging and still-developing markets. Sure, there’s more glory in launching a handset that will capture global attention, but the bread-and-butter is in cheap phones. To that end, Motorola has made it clear that they want cheap Android phones on market by 2011:
“Our core strategy really is to take Android and take Android to as low down the feature phone tier, as we possibly can, by bringing in Smartphone features, best of Internet, best of messaging, best of multi-media, best of location services.”
“And we have various different strategies for doing that but without saying whether it is 2010, 2011, whether it’s $200 or $150 or $250, but it’s that kind of a range that we need to deliver to really expand the scope of where Android can play and that’s part of our strategy.”
The Motorola CLIQ and the Motorola DROID have proven that the company can build compelling Android hardware that is capable of going platinum in today’s crowded smartphone market. These devices set the stage for Motorola to flex their Android-muscle in low-end markets. The LaJolla will likely lead the charge.
The Motorola LaJolla doesn’t sound like much to write home about, and it’s definitely not going to compete with the DROID. But, it may end up being more important to Motorola’s Android strategy then both the DROID or the CLIQ.
[Via: AndroidAndMe]