In September, Motorola President Rick Osterloh announced that the days of the $600 mobile phone were numbered. Apparently he didn’t tell that to his own company, which just released the $650 Nexus 6.
In a much anticipated announcement, Google unveiled not only the newest version of their Android mobile operating system, but two new Nexus devices. The HTC Nexus 9 tablet and the Motorola-built Nexus 6. Owners and fans of the Nexus 5 had hoped for its successor to share in the same loss-leading pricing structure that still makes the Nexus 5 one of the best mobile values available, even a year after its release.
But with the Nexus 6’s cutting edge, premium specifications came a premium price. The Nexus 6 will start at $650 for the 32GB model and top out at $700 for the 64GB model – a price point made even more curious by the head of Motorola’s own words just six weeks ago.
In September interview with RE/Code, Motorola President Rick Osterloh sent a warning that the days of the expensive, high end flagship phone were over:
“The days of the $600-$700 smartphone are numbered,” Motorola President Rick Osterloh told Re/code on Thursday. “People are realizing they don’t need to pay that much money.”
It is reasonable to assume that at the time of this interview, Osterloh would have been well aware of the price of the upcoming Nexus 6, making the comments even more curious.
Still it seems that the rumors of the expensive mobile phone’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Do you think that the recent success of lower-priced phones such as the Moto G point to the demise of high-priced phones? Or do you see it as a natural progression as the mobile industry attempts to find areas of growth? Let us know in the comments below, or on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter!
[button link=”http://recode.net/2014/09/04/motorola-looks-to-defend-its-tweener-position-with-new-moto-x-moto-g/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: RE/Code[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
