On his blog Russ Beattie writes When is Motorola going to get it together?. It is a good write up that I hope the folks at Motorola read.
From my perspective, we all know that Motorola is right now going through tough times. We live on an era where cutting-edge technology innovation is key to differentiation, some in hardware, lots in software; some of this innovation come in the form of smaller components and designs that allow for slimmer handsets, or handsets with higher degree of functionality convergence, or slicker user interfaces and related user experience; with the later one becoming more and more important for the consumer (and developers).
Russ writes about the problem with (lack of) platform unification at Motorola. Interesting that he brings that up. Platform unification is a good thing, but is not necessarily the most important one. There will always be classes of users: entry level to high-end users, and the functionality to offer, the platform to use, and the cost of manufacturing maps well to such target classes. Unification does help to keep it simple stupid for execution purposes. I know that the idea of unifying platforms is something (some of the) folks at Motorola would like to accomplish, but no easy task it is… especially when the company has become so large that differences in opinion and politics and bureaucracy prevents things from happening (fast enough). Padmasree Warrior, Motorola CTO and one of the top CTOs in our industry, must be swift, and must push “keeping it simple” for themselves, their partners and their users — this could mean platform unification, but what really means is “on-time attractive, functional, cost-effective, cutting-edge products”. A good example of not moving fast enough is the lack of NFC on Motorola handsets, something that Nokia is already shipping with their 6131 NFC handset.
I’ve been helping with “developer relations” for quite a while now, and I can say that running a successful developer forum is not an easy task — it takes lost of time, money, content, and people, and successful internal communication channels between the forum and internal technology groups, to bring out the right information at the right time. With MOTODEV, Motorola is bringing out lots of information about their handsets, which is great and useful, but what is missing is the “developer spirit” that helps recruit champions for their products — to be successful, it is more than just putting out specs and documents. As Russ wrote on his entry, the Moto folks must be totally proactive, and open with the community.
There are a lot of very smart and knowledgeable people at Motorola, truly pioneers on mobility and handsets, and many other areas… I’ve worked with many of them throughout the years and I have great respect for them. They know what needs to happen. They must be allowed to be free, and “have the ability to pursue things largely on their own terms.”. The result of this will be all good.
Go Moto!
ceo