The Inside Story of the Moto X

Steven Levy:

Finally, we have the answer. The Moto X, announced today, marks the arrival, finally, of the Google Phone.

The Moto X is the first in a series of hardware products that Google hopes will supercharge the mother company’s software and services. A svelte slab with smooth curves at its edge, purpose-built to fit in the palm of your hand. It is designed for mass appeal, not just a slice of the population like Star Wars fans. It has its share of features that distinguish it from the pack, particularly in a period where some of the market leaders are reloading their innovation guns. These include persistent notifications, user-customizable design components, instant photo-capture, and hands-free authentication.

Will be fascinating to see how this phone does, and, if it succeeds, who it takes share from.

“We don’t monetize the things we create,” Android creator Andy Rubin once told me. “We monetize users.”

That’s our Google. But it’s not Motorola; Motorola sells phones for a profit. Or at least they did.

(And man, nobody has access to Google like Steven Levy does. I dare say no writer today has access to a major tech company like Levy does with Google. And he deserves it; great piece.)

★ Thursday, 1 August 2013