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Lenovo Kill Off Motorola, Replaced By Moto

Motorola the smartphone brand that has struggled of late in Australia is dead, instead Lenovo is set to roll out Moto branded smartphones however it is still uncertain as to what is happening to the brand in Australia.

At CES 2016 Lenovo invested heavily in promoting their Lenovo Yoga and Think Pad range of PCs, little attention was given to Moto despite the new logo being on display at the Lenovo Cafe.
 
Back in the late 90’s Motorola delivered the iconic Razr, which David Beckham flew to Australia to promote. 


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Bought from Google by the Chinese smartphone and laptop powerhouse Lenovo in January 2014, Motorola had found success overseas but not in Australia where the brand was among the most popular of smartphones.
 
ChannelNews understands that Lenovo is looking to totally relaunch the Moto brand in Australia but are cautious due to the competitive nature of the smartphone market.
 
Lenovo launched the Moto G in early 2014, which propelled the brand, which had all but disappeared after the Razr.
 
The Moto G kick started the reinvigoration of the brand, which saw Motorola ship more than 10m smartphones in the third quarter of 2014, up 118% year-on-year.

 
At CES Lenovo announced that it will kill off the US mobile phone pioneer’s name. 
 
It will keep Moto, the part of Motorola’s product naming that has gained traction in recent years, but Moto smartphones will be branded under Lenovo.
 
Motorola chief operating officer Rick Osterloh told Cnet that “we’ll slowly phase out Motorola and focus on Moto”.
 
The Guardian has reported that the Moto line will be joined by Lenovo’s Vibe line in the low end, leaving the fate of the Moto E and G uncertain. The Motorola Mobility division of Lenovo will take over responsibility for the Chinese manufacturer’s entire smartphone range.
 
A Lenovo spokesperson said: “Motorola Mobility continues to exist as a Lenovo company and is the engineering and design engine for all of our mobile products.”
 
They said that the company hadn’t used the Motorola brand specifically on its products since the Moto X in 2013, despite being used on the packaging and website branding.



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