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Chris Jacob
Most of you are probably too young to remember, but for almost three decades Motorola was held as the exemplar of quality manufacturing (six sigma).
But by the dawn of this millennium, they had stagnated and abandoned those principles in everything but name. The result was a decade of crappy products that most consumers now associate with Motorola (think: RAZR).
[Note: I am certain at this point someone will jump in with an anecdote like, "I have a KAZR that just won't die" or "My sister's-brother's-nephew's-cousin's-former-roommate's girlfriend swears by her STAR-TAC". Fact is, over the past decade or so Motorola consumer products are ranked at the bottom in quality by virtually every metric. But back to the story....]
A succession of CEOs runs Motorola's quality and company profits into the ground. Last year, dangling on the precipice, a new (and possibly final CEO) emerges pledging a return to glory.
Against the odds, the Droid emerges and it looks good. He||, it has to, because it has no choice but to be perfect. Anything less than six sigma would be the nail in the coffin.
But...
...the fact that scarcely a month after the product is released Motorola's major partner is literally slapping a band-aid on the product has the potential to kill any equity and consumer confidence left in the brand.
I have advised everyone I know who was interested in the Droid to "Just wait". Let's see if Motorola has finally shook off their shackles of shoddy quality and returned to their vaunted roots.
@B3ND3R: I am a former Motorola employee, who quit rather than continue to work for such a F'ed up company with the most incompetent management I have ever seen. Yes we had all the Six Sigma classes aka "Digital" Six Sigma because they put it on the web...nobody ever payed any attention to it though other than generating useless reports showing how were adhering to quality standards. The reason quality went south is because everything has been outsourced to such a degree that they have completely lost control. Manufacturing is overseas with layer upon layer of sub-contractors and nobody has any idea where and when issues occur.. The one good thing about working there was we had the choice of using Mac Book Pro's or HP workstation laptops. Most of the IT architects chose Macs. Everyone had iPhones as their personal phone but we were issued those piece of crap Q's for work. They tried to tell us we had to use Moto phones for personal phones too but most people ignored this. Anyhoo I wouldn't buy a droid bot only because I know about Moto quality but because it's not impressive hardware in general and Android has a long way to go to be equal to the iPhone.
@B3ND3R: The real irony is, I think, that this demonstrates that there are two different metrics for quality; excellent process to create mediocre products, and excellent products.
One does not beget the other.
In software there is a similar concept wrt bugs. Buggy software can be great, because it isn't the bugs (or lack of bugs) that make it so. The same here;
@Platypus Man: Seriously man this really is only an issue on earlier models. I waited a bit to get mine and my battery hatch is fine. The phone is amazing don't wait to get it!
If I knew someone who was on Verizon and wanted a new phone and wanted to pay for this phone upfront and wait for a rebate after, and then was willing to split the cost with me and take the Eris, this would be a great deal.
...Might be easier to just get the money and buy the phone by myself.
@ShadowStaarr: Actually your first one wouldn't work that well either since its mainly for new lines.
You can finagle your way into them as an exsisting customer sometimes but usually their answer is "we're already getting your money, why do we need to do anything for you now"...
"There's one caveat: The deal doesn't allow for a free Droid. If you buy either a Droid or a Droid Eris, you can get a Droid Eris for free"
So then your headline is misleading--no, completely inaccurate. It goes without saying that if Verizon was offering a BOGO deal it would allow for a free lesser device with the purchase of their expensive top of the line phone.
Your headline implies the actually beneficial way the deal could be offered. By saying it includes the Droid "(!)," you imply you can get the Droid free with some purchase.
@brodie8307001: I don't think so. Seems a bit early for that. I imagine they're just hoping to push up sales a bit more for the holiday season.
By the by. Did you know the Passion/Dragon is actually two different devices? Neither did I, I thought it was just two different code names. Looks like its the Passion thats going to be coming to VZW.
This is definitely going to spark the same arguments over whether a "free" phone from one of these offers counts as a "sale" that the BOGO Blackberry deals did.
I'm a little confused by the terms of this deal.. it looks like it doesnt count for the 'new every 2' plan and you need to get a NEW plan for each phone. Kind of a bummer since my GF is eligible for the new every 2 and I would love the Droid.
@jrgriggs: That's generally the trend. Existing customers are less likely to switch, so there's no real reason for the carriers to give them any treats.
@Nathan Obbards: As great as the Droid is. Something even better will come up on Sprint. Once it does, I will be waiting to sign my life away to google. Sad, but the truth.
I assume that since all the Droid commercials mention that 'Droid' is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm, George Lucas is getting a chunk of change from Moto?
@lolbrbnvm: Don't know. It would be VZW not Moto though.
I imagine they had to pay something to use the trademark. People (especially Lucas) tend not to trademark something then let others use the term willy nilly.
VZW must have either thought it was worth it or was too far into the advertising planning to change the name when they figured it out.
@tande04: Which reminds me, even Disney (or Pixar I suppose) had to pay up when they used the name "Omnidroid" in The Incredibles for that giant evil robot.
12/20/09
12/19/09
12/18/09
Most of you are probably too young to remember, but for almost three decades Motorola was held as the exemplar of quality manufacturing (six sigma).
But by the dawn of this millennium, they had stagnated and abandoned those principles in everything but name. The result was a decade of crappy products that most consumers now associate with Motorola (think: RAZR).
[Note: I am certain at this point someone will jump in with an anecdote like, "I have a KAZR that just won't die" or "My sister's-brother's-nephew's-cousin's-former-roommate's girlfriend swears by her STAR-TAC". Fact is, over the past decade or so Motorola consumer products are ranked at the bottom in quality by virtually every metric. But back to the story....]
A succession of CEOs runs Motorola's quality and company profits into the ground. Last year, dangling on the precipice, a new (and possibly final CEO) emerges pledging a return to glory.
Against the odds, the Droid emerges and it looks good. He||, it has to, because it has no choice but to be perfect. Anything less than six sigma would be the nail in the coffin.
But...
...the fact that scarcely a month after the product is released Motorola's major partner is literally slapping a band-aid on the product has the potential to kill any equity and consumer confidence left in the brand.
I have advised everyone I know who was interested in the Droid to "Just wait". Let's see if Motorola has finally shook off their shackles of shoddy quality and returned to their vaunted roots.
*sigh*
12/18/09
12/19/09
One does not beget the other.
In software there is a similar concept wrt bugs. Buggy software can be great, because it isn't the bugs (or lack of bugs) that make it so. The same here;
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/19/09
Seriously, I haven't missed my iPhone AT ALL. Nor have I missed any calls... iPhone and AT&T are all hype.
12/19/09
12/19/09
12/20/09
12/18/09
1. Kids get stickers each day for doing twenty minutes of reading homework each night - the ultimate reward in the second grade.
2. Second graders are literally begging for cell phones on a daily basis.
Not convinced? Irislyn, my eight year old daughter, took one look at this and was hooked.
Greatest
Sticker
Ever.
Oh yes, Verizon is connecting with the younger generation. We are all just too old to understand.
12/03/09
...Might be easier to just get the money and buy the phone by myself.
12/03/09
You can finagle your way into them as an exsisting customer sometimes but usually their answer is "we're already getting your money, why do we need to do anything for you now"...
Well maybe not in so many words...
12/03/09
12/03/09
Assuming its a new line. If not be extra nice when you ask.
12/03/09
So then your headline is misleading--no, completely inaccurate. It goes without saying that if Verizon was offering a BOGO deal it would allow for a free lesser device with the purchase of their expensive top of the line phone.
Your headline implies the actually beneficial way the deal could be offered. By saying it includes the Droid "(!)," you imply you can get the Droid free with some purchase.
12/03/09
12/03/09
By the by. Did you know the Passion/Dragon is actually two different devices? Neither did I, I thought it was just two different code names. Looks like its the Passion thats going to be coming to VZW.
The more you know...
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/03/09
12/02/09
12/02/09
12/02/09
I assume that since all the Droid commercials mention that 'Droid' is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm, George Lucas is getting a chunk of change from Moto?
Can anyone confirm/deny?
12/02/09
I imagine they had to pay something to use the trademark. People (especially Lucas) tend not to trademark something then let others use the term willy nilly.
VZW must have either thought it was worth it or was too far into the advertising planning to change the name when they figured it out.
12/02/09
12/02/09
I had gotten the impression they let that one in on an "amongst friends" basis.
Regardless I'm sure there probably wouldn't be many people running in the same circles over at VZW :p