The latest developments surrounding consumer electronics indicate Lenovo has decided to kill its own brand name and sell Motorola brand in smartphones niche. If the reports are to be believed, the top management has taken this bold decision to phase out Lenovo brand for its phones.
When the Chinese multinational technology company, Lenovo acquired Motorola Mobility for $2.91 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, it was announced that Motorola name would be phased out and get replaced with the ‘Moto’ brand. However, one can notice that Motorola brand still appears on packaging and also through its licensees.
Even after a year, Lenovo couldn’t chalk out a formidable plan to replace Motorola. Going by the popularity, Motorola is a much bigger brand when compared to Lenovo. Motorola is the American company which introduced mobile phones to people the world over in the early 2000s.
As per the latest developments in the Lenovo, it is clearly understood that the company is taking a selfless decision to promote popular brand name rather than keeping its interests on the front.
Personal computers are still the most important business vertical for Lenovo. In fact, Lenovo is the world’s largest personal computer vendor by unit sales. The company expanded significantly through the acquisition of IBM’s personal computer business including its ThinkPad and ThinkCentre lines of notebooks and desktops respectively.
With less than 6% share of the smartphone market, Lenovo was ousted from the top five worldwide smartphone market leadership. Moreover, the company has just $2 billion last year from its smartphones business. This clearly shows, Lenovo’s top-most priority would be the personal computers rather than smartphone business.
As per the 2016 Q2 reports, Samsung reasserted its global leadership followed by Apple and Huawei. Oppo and Vivo has been able to capture a strong brand presence and are listed 4th and 5th respectively.
On contrary, Motorola has got a good name in the global market. Their recent product line has got stupendous success. Whether it is budget or high-cost, Motorola has got stronger branding for their smarphones. Moreover, there has been a lot of shuffling going on in their smartphones division. Key management positions are being transferred to PC, IT management and cloud business.
Though there is no official confirmation, insider reports suggest that Lenovo is killing its own brand name and nurture brand Motorola.
