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September 12, 2013

Motorola Shipping 100K Moto X Handsets Per Week

It should come as no surprise that when Google purchased Motorola last year, the computer giant wasn’t going to just rest on its laurels and let its newest toy rot. Motorola’s Moto X smartphone has been building steam and garnering attention over the last few weeks and months. The company now says that it is shipping 100,000 handsets every week from its Texas headquarters.

The Moto X is a phone that allows for color customization and voice-activated software. Google is banking that these features, as well as its “made in America” label will drive the market for the device. Motorola is further hoping that this phone will be able to bridge the giant sales gap between it and Apple and Samsung. Revenues are going to need to be high, because the labor costs are about three times as much as what companies spend for production in countries like China.

While there have been some people who think that Motorola is trying to capitalize on the vapidity of the American public, Google is hoping that demand will outstrip supply, at least in the short term. Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside recently gave an interview in which he said that the plant that is producing the Moto X is capable of putting out “tens of millions” of phones per year. Woodside added the caveat that in order for the plant to expand to that level, there would need to be a demand.

"When you set up to ramp a factory you need a plan, and we have shipment targets we need to make with our carrier partners, and where we need to be right now is 100,000 units and that's where we are," Woodside said.

Woodside declined to lay out how many of the handsets shipped were standard models that are being sold by wireless carriers, and how many were custom-designed models, ordered straight through Motorola. The CEO did say that custom orders were “substantial” and that the company is making a profit on the Moto X.




Edited by Alisen Downey


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