Lenovo To Kill Iconic ‘Motorola’ Brand Name, Will Replace it by ‘Moto by Lenovo’

‘After buying the Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014 for $2.91 billion, Lenovo is now planning to replace the name ‘Motorola’ with ‘Moto by Lenovo’. This re-branding means that we won’t be able to see the iconic brand name ‘Motorola’ on the smartphones henceforth.

This Is Not The End of Moto

Lenovo won’t be completely discarding the Motorola’s Moto smartphone lineup. The Chinese company will be launching high-end phones under the ‘Moto’ lineup and budget phones under its own ‘Vibe’ range of smartphones. We will also get to see Motorola’s beautiful “batwing” logo on the Moto range of smartphones as already mentioned.

“We’ll slowly phase out Motorola and focus on Moto,” said Rick Osterloh, Motorola’s Chief Operating Officer at a conference in CES 2016.

Osterloh also pointed that the brand “Motorola” won’t be completely killed as it will be used in “Corporate Perspective” in Lenovo.

Motorola was the first company to launch a mobile phone. There was a time when buying a phone means a Motorola. But now the times have changed, and Motorola isn’t as popular as it used to be.

These days buying a smartphone means buying either an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy. But still, you just can’t forget what Motorola is and that’s why the decision to keep the Moto lineup for high-end devices makes sense. Many people would still prefer to buy a Motorola phone than a Lenovo, or a Micromax, or a Xiaomi.

Lenovo To Make Moto A Stronger Brand

Lenovo believes that its move to replace ‘Motorola’ with ‘Moto by Lenovo’ would indeed help strengthen the brand image of ‘Moto by Lenovo’ (Motorola formerly).

“It’s our treasure. We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger,” said Yang Yuanqing, CEO at Lenovo. He also mentioned that Motorola branding might be going away but the iconic Moto logo or the M symbol will be used on the Moto devices. Lenovo also confirmed that the upcoming smartphones like Moto X will also sport blue Lenovo logo along with the ‘M’ logo.

Lenovo’s Future Plans for ‘Moto By Lenovo’

Motorola’s current COO, Osterloh will become the leader of combined global smartphone business unit which will be under Motorola legal entities. He also mentioned that the company plans to introduce Moto range of smartphones in places where Lenovo was famous, and Vibe range of smartphones in regions where Moto was famous. This strategy would help the company reap double benefits for both its smartphone lineups.

He also mentioned that Lenovo wants to launch its Vibe range of smartphones in the U.S. market, but not in 2016.

If you have been wondering why Motorola is not launching any new phones in the budget segments under Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 7,000 then you have your answer. Now, let’s hope that Lenovo does launches some good Vibe series phones worthy of replacing Motorola branded phones, or it would have made a serious mistake.