Is The RAZR Dead?
Dave at The Other Drummer is disgusted that Motorola is still riding the coattails of the RAZR. He notes that the RAZR is a four-year-old design whose time has come.
I don’t think the RAZR is dead yet, but he’s right about technology years:
Changing the color of your product for four years does not constitute a “design refresh”. Releasing a purple “version” for Mother’s Day? “Tattooed” editions? Please. Technology years pass faster than dog years. That means your design for the RAZR is at least 21 years old. 21 years ago it was 1986.
Strangely, the RAZR is really just a Motorola StarTac that has gone through the pasta roller. Back in 1996, Motorola released the StarTac and I was happily surprised at how small and portable my phone became. The StarTac was the first phone that passed the “Should I Take It” threshold. I never again needed to decide whether I should bring my phone with me or not. It was small enough to take with me all the time.
Then again, the StarTac was a smaller version of the MicroTac by Motorola. The MicroTac came out in 1989. Despite its size compared to the StarTac and the RAZR, it was actually a micro-cell phone compared to the bricks of its day. This was my first cell phone and I was so proud of my cool phone back then.
Does that RAZR design still look dated when compared to its predecessors? That clamshell design has been the cornerstone of Motorola for years, but what’s the difference between a cornerstone and a stale design? In the end, the “flip-phone” style is VERY efficient, but the RAZR is about as small as it can go and still be usable.
I believe the next step for Motorola should be the flip-phone PDA. Motorola is on track with the Motorola Q Phone and the next step is a phone as small as the RAZR with the full capabilities of a PDA like the Q. They have to solve the data input problem and the Blackberry keyboard, QWERTY keyboard and touch screen keyboard are all inadequate right now. Once Motorola solves that problem, they’ll once again have a killer phone that everyone will want. It will finally be the phone to tear me away from the Treo. I can’t wait!