Motorola is joining the Lenovo family and here are a few tantalizing details we know so far thanks to a conference call with Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing and CFO Wong Waiming.
The flagships aren't going anywhere - in fact, Lenovo has nothing but praise for the Moto X, and the Moto G.
The company plans on a three-year time table to challenge the smartphone industry with its new partnership but in that time, Lenovo plans on continuing to push current popular Moto brands:
"[We will] make it [Motorola] even more successful. There is a very excellent engineering team, and combined with operations platform within Lenovo, [we'll] sell more volumes of the Moto G."
'Innovation is in our DNA'
One word Yuanqing and Waiming both repeated during the conference call was "innovation" - and even going so far as to say it's in the company's DNA.
Part of the Motorola purchase includes over 2,000 patents or "intellectual property" licensed to Lenovo that it hopes to innovate and capitalize on.
However, Google will retain ownership of Motorola's patent portfolio "including current patent applications and invention disclosures" but Lenovo is allowed the Mobility brand and trademark.
When asked if North American shores will see the arrival of more Lenovo phablets, it was noted that with market research and appropriate demand, the company heartily replied that Motorola phablets will definitely appear sooner or latter and we "can expect it with the Motorola brand."
The key is growth
Lenovo firmly stated that layoffs and cutbacks are not in Motorola Mobility's future. Rather, the CEO and CFO see Moto employees as a "as our treasure with unique expertise in [the] smartphone area."
As of right now, various Motorola offices will remain open without negative consequences. Though they did not comment on whether there will be job openings, it's to be expected if the company continues to tout growth and new opportunities.
A BlackBerry purchase was also mentioned but Yuanging declined a response stating he couldn't "comment on rumors."
Changes are coming, but some things will remain
Lenovo has a greater brand awareness in China, Russia and parts of Europe compared to North and South America where Motorola is the bigger name.
Part of the Mobility acquisition is to combine efforts to spread each brand into a wider market.
For now, each brand will coexist separately but Lenovo hasn't completely ruled out merging the brands - Yuanging noted that more details will be released once the deal officially closes and that there is "a great deal of work to do" before then.
