Today Google CEO Larry Page announced that Lenovo will acquire the Motorola Mobility smartphone business for about $2.91BN.

Since being acquired by Google in 2012, Motorola has transformed itself, focusing on solving real consumer problems and providing amazing experiences built on a foundation of pure Android. The result has been Moto X, Moto G, and a reinvigorated Droid line. Together, these devices have won over consumers and critics alike and helped re-establish the Motorola brand around the world.

Now, as we set our sights bringing the mobile Internet to the next 100 million people, Lenovo is the perfect partner to help us achieve that goal. As Larry wrote in his post,

“Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola into a major player within the Android ecosystem. They have a lot of experience in hardware and they have global reach. In addition, Lenovo intends to keep Motorola’s distinct brand identity--just as they did when they acquired ThinkPad from IBM in 2005.”

Combined, our two challenger brands will become a true force in mobility. Per Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo,

“We are confident that we can bring together the best of both companies to deliver products customers will love and a strong, growing business. Lenovo has a proven track record of successfully embracing and strengthening great brands – as we did with IBM’s Think brand – and smoothly and efficiently integrating companies around-the-world. I am confident we will be successful with this process, and that our companies will not only maintain our current momentum in the market, but also build a strong foundation for the future.”

Google will maintain ownership of the vast majority of the Motorola Mobility patent portfolio, including current patent applications and invention disclosures. As part of its ongoing relationship with Google, Lenovo will receive a license to this rich portfolio of patents and other intellectual property. Additionally Lenovo will receive over 2,000 patent assets, as well as the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals in the U.S. and China. You can find more information in the press release.

We look forward to a new chapter and bright future with a new brand steward.


Posted by Dennis Woodside

So it might be a little cold in the last days at our Libertyville offices—but there isn’t a polar vortex that could stop us from us from cranking out the new software updates!

Here’s the latest Download:

New Year, New Gallery Look - Our Motorola Gallery has a fresh, new look! True to our promise to enhance the best parts of Android, we’ve developed a new Motorola Gallery UI that looks a lot cleaner and a lot more beautiful. The navigation is faster, the album drawer is streamlined, and the thumbnails are bigger and bolder.

Move Over, iPhone - It’s even easier to move your information over from an iPhone in our latest update to Motorola Migrate, the app that allows you to move your personal content from your old phone to your new phone. Now you can transfer your iCloud contacts and calendar events right from the app and not just in the MotoMaker web tool like before. So whether your old phone was an Android or iPhone, it’s a breeze to move over to your new Motorola phone.

KitKat Gets a Boost—Literally - We have begun releasing KitKat to Moto G on Boost Mobile. Check our upgrade pages for Australia and the U.S. for more information.

KitKat Comes to Moto X in Canada - Do KitKats come in maple? We started this week rolling out KitKat to Moto X on Rogers and Fido, the first Moto X to receive KitKat version 4.4.2. See the upgrade page for Canada to learn more.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, feedback, and comments on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. We listen to them, and they make our products better.

Posted by Punit Soni, Product Management

Sometimes, even in the technology industry, the best inspiration comes straight from nature. We recently introduced Moto X with Bamboo, the first-ever smartphone incorporating real bamboo into the body. Since then we’ve been hard at work crafting new options, and are excited to announce three new natural wood finishes for Moto X: Walnut, Teak and Ebony.

Featuring natural finishes and distinct grains, these wood backs are undeniably unique and provide a whole new level of sophisticated customization for your smartphone. Every wood grain is different, so every phone is too - just like you!

Moto X is now available for the everyday starting price of $399 off-contract. We want to make the upgrade to a wood finish just as accessible to people, so we're making it available for just $25 more. Bamboo will be available with this new price on Moto Maker starting today and Walnut, Teak and Ebony finishes will be available starting January 21st.

On the heels of a great reception for Moto G in Europe, we're happy to announce that Moto X has also crossed the Atlantic and will be available in the UK, France and Germany from 1st February.

Since its global launch Moto X has already started changing how people interact with their smartphones. Touchless Control, Motorola's sophisticated voice control system, enables your Moto X to respond to your voice so you can check the weather, get directions, or do just about anything without lifting a finger. With Touchless Control people use Google Now as much as three times as often. Motorola's Quick Capture enables you to launch your Moto X's camera with two quick twists of your wrist so you never miss the perfect moment, and it's encouraging Moto X users to take as many as 30% more photographs. And Moto X users are interacting with Active Display on average eighteen times a day, thus lighting up their screens less often, and enabling Moto X's already great battery life to stretch even longer.

All of these experiences are built on a foundation of pure Android with no skins to slow you down, clutter your phone or get between you and Google's best-in-class mobile services. And because you've told us that having the latest software is important to you, Moto X will come with Android 4.4 KitKat right out of the box. Altogether, touches like these have helped Moto X make nearly 20 "best of 2013" lists.

Now, with Moto X, smartphone buyers in the UK, France and Germany have two great Motorola devices to choose from. Prices for Moto X start from £25 per month in the UK and €399 in Europe. Click here for more information on pricing and carriers in Europe.

It’s a New Year and the Motorola software team's 2014 resolution is to continue to rapidly deliver delightful software experiences to our users. Over the holidays, we’ve been working on a number of software enhancements that we hope will help start your year off right.

Here’s the latest Download:

Your Personal Text Messaging Assistant - Love getting text messages read aloud to you while driving? Now you can reply back—completely hands-free using just your voice with Motorola Assist.

As part of this update, we’ve also enhanced Motorola Contextual Services, the key magic behind some of our Motorola applications. It provides the secret sauce behind activity detection in Assist and optimizes Touchless Control. This latest update helps make drive mode detection faster and more accurate using Bluetooth for Assist.

Zap Your Photos and Videos - This app is a really fun way to share stuff with friends near you. Droid Zap uses your phone’s GPS/WiFi functionality to send photos and videos with a simple gesture. This latest update gives a sleek, new look to the app and offers support for KitKat. Available on DROID Ultra, DROID MAXX, and DROID Mini.

KitKat Breaks into Europe - The KitKat goodness continues to roll out at a furious pace! Last week we began rolling out Android, KitKat 4.4.2 to carriers and regions in Europe. Check the software updates release page for the latest on your device.

Kernel Sources for Moto G - For our developer friends, we’ve released the Kernel Sources for Android, KitKat 4.4.2 on Moto G. Download the kernels here. Knock yourselves out!

We think 2014 is going to be a great year. We’re here, we’re listening, and we’re making your Motorola phones better all the time. We're committed to bringing you many more software innovations over this next year. Want to tell us something? Feel free to comment on our profiles on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook.

Posted by Punit Soni, Product Management

When we launched Moto X, our goal was to solve real consumer problems and give people refreshing new choices in the sea of smartphone sameness.

We heard from people that they wanted more control in how their phones looked, so we introduced the Moto Maker customization tool and made it available on all major carriers. That enabled our customers to choose from hundreds of color combinations and, for the first time, real bamboo backs. We heard that battery life was a major pain point, so we engineered Moto X to go all day long. And we heard that having the most current software was really important to our owners, so we made sure that Moto X was the first smartphone to upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat.

But we're not stopping there.

We've been hearing a lot recently from people who want a new premium smartphone at a reasonable price without having to wait for a contract upgrade. That came through especially loud and clear during our holiday flash sales.

So from today forward we're offering Moto X at an everyday starting price of just $399 on any major US carrier, without a contract. This includes customized devices.

Today several wireless carriers offer good month-to-month or prepaid service plans that cost much less than the contract plans that come with subsidized devices. Combine one of those plans with our new $399 everyday pricing and you could save hundreds of dollars over two years while keeping the freedom to change service providers when you feel like it. We can even help you finance your purchase* so you pay monthly for your contract-free Moto X.

Because you should have the freedom to buy a great device when you want, without chaining yourself down.

Happy new year!

Rick Osterloh
Senior Vice President - Product Management


*$0 down and zero Interest on all purchases if paid within 6, 12, or 18 months. Interest will be charged to your account from the purchase date if the balance is not paid in full within the promotional period.