14 DAY TRIAL // Last year, Motorola’s smartphone business got acquired by Chinese device maker Lenovo. Even so, the two companies continued to hold on to separate mobile divisions and, not so long ago, Motorola unveiled three brand new smartphone models including the Moto X Play, Moto X Style, and Moto G (third gen).
Lenovo, on its part, also went on to roll out new products like the photo-centric Vibe Shot, and soon at IFA 2015, the company will probably unveil other new models like the Vibe P1, which we saw leak with specs and images yesterday.
However, after the takeover, it probably became apparent that having two smartphone divisions didn’t really make that much sense. Now, Lenovo tells NDTV Gadgets that soon we can expect their mobile business to be absorbed by Motorola.
Recently, Lenovo said it would start laying off some Motorola employees and people from its own staff would come in to take their place. But in spite of these changes, Motorola will still be the major driving force that will propel the companies’ joint efforts forwards.
Lenovo's smartphone division will melt into Motorola's
What’s going to happen is that Lenovo will be merging the Lenovo Business Mobile Group with Motorola Mobility. So Motorola’s management team will be in charge of the smartphones produced, with former Motorola president Rick Osterloh overlooking how things go. Nonetheless, Motorola will continue to exist under Lenovo, so Osterloh will have to report to Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing.
So what does that mean? Apparently, for us regular consumers things won’t change fundamentally. We’ll still get to see new smartphones from Lenovo and from Motorola.
However, the latter has been tasked with producing smartwatch products for Lenovo, a territory the Chinese tech giant hasn’t dabbed into before. Motorola’s Moto 360, on the other hand, has been one of the most appreciated and stylish wearables the market has seen so far.
Months after Lenovo acquired Motorola, the inevitable is finally happening. The merger will certainly help the parent company handle its resources better and save costs on smartphone development.
Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google in 2014 for the huge sum of $2.91 / €2.59 billion, mostly for its demonstrated expertise in the land of smartphones.