Who’s got the hottest handset on the market? I do! I do!
On the heels of the Motorola Inc. Razr’s phenomenal success, carriers may play it cool, but there’s a sense in the industry that hot handsets drive subscriber numbers and, therefore, you’d better jump on the latest.
Conversely, with winning designs, market momentum and buzz filling its sails, Motorola is happy to launch the Krzr—the much-anticipated successor to the Razr—with as many carriers as possible in its home market. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless claimed bragging rights for first-to-launch in the United States, Alltel Corp. clamored for attention for its offering of the “super-sleek” handset and Sprint Nextel Corp. quickly followed suit, though it won’t get the device—for the record, the Krzr K1m—into consumers’ hands until next month. (Motorola actually launched the Krzr globally in Hong Kong and China last month, just prior to the Verizon Wireless announcement.)
Whether the Krzr can replicate the sensational sales of the Razr in its many iterations—upwards of 50 million Razrs have been sold worldwide in two years, according to Motorola—remains to be seen, of course. And the industry is undoubtedly watching closely.
“The Krzr provides an additional Vcast music device that subscribers can choose from,” said Brenda Raney, spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless. “Getting the Krzr is important to us—certainly the Motorola brand has recognition. People vote with their feet every day. They walk into our store and having the Krzr means that if that’s what they’re looking for, we can provide it.”
Musical talents
Raney’s emphasis on the Krzr’s music capabilities is not inadvertent. With mobile data the next growth area for carriers, music is shaping up as the consumer content-of-choice, according to Frost & Sullivan, which last week cited the convergence of second-generation music devices and 3G network buildouts as precipitating factors.
The Krzr and new editions of the Razr and Slvr are CDMA2000 1x EV-DO-equipped to take advantage of ongoing network upgrades at Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Alltel. Phones with music capabilities such as the Krzr have evolved to include external, dedicated music controls and expandable memory to bury the “iPod challenge.”
Indeed, Verizon Wireless and Motorola’s joint release on the Krzr’s launch cite the handset’s “sleek … luxurious style”—a reference to its glass-like metallic finish and slimmed-down width—before plunging into superlatives on how easily users can access the carrier’s content plays, most prominently Verizon Wireless’ Vcast music store.
Allen Buddendeck, director of communications and public affairs at Motorola’s mobile devices unit, said in an e-mailed response to questions that Verizon Wireless’ aggressive launch schedule preceded Motorola’s own national advertising campaign for the Krzr, set to begin in mid-October—perhaps inadvertently underscoring the importance of the Krzr to the carrier’s plans. Buddendeck said Motorola considers the Krzr a global product and that more announcements would be forthcoming “across wireless operators and network technologies.” In fact, analysts expect Krzr launches at U.S.-based GSM carriers such as Cingular Wireless L.L.C. before more rollouts across the globe.
Buddendeck declined to describe Motorola’s rollout strategy or sales expectations, for fear of tipping the vendor’s hand to competitors.
And what of the handset itself? How does it reflect Motorola’s approach in a post-Razr world?
Turning heads
Avi Greengart, senior handset analyst at Current Analysis, drew three take-aways from evaluating the Krzr. First, he admitted unabashedly, “the Krzr is gorgeous” and reflects Motorola’s emphasis on “CMF”—colors, materials and finishes. The metal casing, lightly sparkling paint and glass cover creates an eye-candy effect that will catch consumers’ eyes as they spend an average of three minutes on handset selection in a carrier’s store.
“There’s no question these are fashion devices, personal accessories,” he said.
Secondly, Motorola has learned some design lessons from its work on the Razr. The techno-angularity of the Razr has been softened to broaden and freshen its appeal.
“The Razr is stale, it’s lost its `wow’ factor,” Greengart said. “This is fashion and it needs to be refreshed.”
Finally, the Krzr’s multi-carrier launch reflects Motorola’s strength. Its showcase handsets will no longer bear carrier logos, though Greengart expects carrier-exclusive colors. Differentiation will be up to the carrier, with their embedded user interfaces and applications and services.
Besides its sales trajectory and oohs and aahs over the eye candy, what will analysts be watching as the Krzr actually passes into consumers’ hands?
“I’d be concerned for Motorola that quality control is better than in the past,” Greengart said. “As the Razr ramped up in production volume, there were glitches. Motorola told us in July at its analyst day that they’ve resolved those issues, and I believe them. But this is a new handset.”
