Hello, Moto. Goodbye, Motorola.
More accurately, it will be "Hello, Moto by Lenovo." Yes, Lenovo is ending the legacy of the Motorola name.
In complete fairness, however, the words "Motorola" haven't been used on any Motorola products since the original Moto X from 2013.
Since news broke out about Motorola's rebranding, the company had to explain that regardless of the change in name, Motorola Mobility will still be around.
"Motorola Mobility continues to exist as a Lenovo company and is the engineering and design engine for all of our mobile products. However, for our product branding we will utilize a dual brand strategy across smartphone and wearables going forward using Moto and Vibe globally," a Motorola spokesperson clarified.
Even though Motorola actually invented the cellular phone, the brand slowly lost its magical appeal after the release of the Razr and the new age of smartphones. The company has been flipped twice since then – first by Google and then by Lenovo.
Nonetheless, the brand has bounced back under Lenovo's leadership and seems to be on a trajectory to regain some ground from its glory days. The rebranding should help streamline those efforts to get back at the top.
But when Motorola Inc. was on top, these were some of the most iconic handheld mobile communications products coming out of its Illinois headquarters.
Motorola Radio
Before there was the smartphone, the flip phone and even the brick phone, there was the Motorola radio. It was one of the first successful car radios in the United States.
Released on Jan. 1, 1930, the brand name of Motorola was derived from this product as it combined "motor" (for motorcar) and "ola" (implies sound). Together, the words form Motorola, which means "sound in motion" and the name has stuck ever since.
Handie-Talkie SCR536
Even before the advent of mobile phones, there was a walkie-talkie – the Handie-Talkie SCR536. A portable two-way radio, which proved to be a vital tool during World War II. It also ultimately led to the development of the SCR300 backpack model.
We've seen it in classic, historical wartime movies as it was the world's first FM portable two-way radio. The SCR300 weighed over 35 pounds and had a range of up to 20 miles.
Bravo Pager
Yet still even before Motorola made mobile phones commonplace, the Handie-Talkie pager could send a radio message to a specific person. Its main feature of paging a specific person was used in hospitals, factories and office buildings across America. It certainly helped reduce noise pollution from public address systems.
Years later, Motorola's Bravo Pager was introduced in 1986 and became the world's bestselling pager.
DynaTAC
Fast forward to 1973, Motorola demonstrated the Dynamic Adaptive Tool Area Coverage or DynaTAC System. It would eventually lead to the first commercial cellphone over a decade later with the Motorola DynaTAC phone.
This first cellphone literally looked like a brick of a phone and weighed just as much as one at 794 grams (28 ounces). More surprising is that there were waiting lists of up to six months for the phone despite the staggering $3,995 price tag.
MicroTAC
The Motorola MicroTAC was the world's smallest and lightest cell phone in the world during the late '80s. It was also the first phone to be designed in a flip phone form factor.
If there was a mobile device, the MicroTAC would be it. It could actually fit into a purse or bag, and even in a pocket, with some effort. In the mid-'90s, the StarTAC would eventually overtake the MicroTAC as the world's smallest and lightest at just 3.1 ounces.
Moto Razr
The Moto Razr is the Motorola we've all come to know and want back in the early 2000s. The Razr V3 was a commercial success and ultimately a prelude to today's smartphone design emphasis on thinness, lightness and a metallic build.
Unfortunately, Motorola's success also led to its downfall. The company stopped innovating and relied heavily on recycling the success of its Razr line. Even Apple's endorsement of the Moto Rokr as an iTunes phone couldn't help ithe company's bottom line.
Today, Motorola is still around making quality – if not better – handsets, and in its own way still pushing smartphone innovation. Whether it's called Motorola or Moto, we should still be saying "Hello, Moto" for quite some time.
Photo: Philip Wilson | Flickr
