Our 2-Day Holiday sale is almost here.

We’re eager to tell you more about our Moto Maker holiday price promotion (formerly known as Cyber Monday deal). This week we’ve put a lot of work into designing a simple sale that avoids rushed checkouts and frantic phone selection, so that you can take your time customizing your Moto X without racing against the clock.

Here’s how it will work:

At 12 pm EST Wednesday (12/4) and again at 12 pm EST next Monday (12/9), a customized Moto X will be $150 off the no-contract price. You’ll also get 30% off select accessories—including cases, headphones, and wireless products—when you use the promo code THANKS. We have bumped up the number of sale devices available. The promotion will last as long as quantities are available each day.

Here’s what you do:

• Go to motorola.com/holiday2daysale and register for the promotion starting at noon EST on the two sale days. You will know right away if quantities are still available.
• Once registered, you will be emailed a promo code within a few hours. This code is active for one week.
• Go to Moto Maker and design your phone within the one week window (take your time and have fun!).
• At checkout, enter your one-time promo code to receive $150 off the no-contract price in the shopping cart. (Your code only works once and for one phone.)
• Submit your order to get rocking with your custom Moto X in time for the holidays. Moto Maker will provide an estimated delivery date while you design your product and again at checkout. You will also receive an email when we start assembling your device as well as when it ships.*

We’re excited to share this promotion with you and can’t wait for you to get your Moto X. Visit our FAQ page if you have more questions.

Follow our Twitter, G+, and Facebook for the latest on the sale.

*Shipping times are subject to parts availability.

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We owe you an apology.

I want to apologize to our customers and fans for the issues we experienced on our website with our Cyber Monday promotion. I want you to understand what happened, and what we are doing to rectify the situation.

First, we misjudged the overwhelming consumer demand for Moto X, which was far greater than we expected. 

Second, our pre-sale site testing was not sufficiently extensive. Testing failed to reveal weaknesses caused by large volumes of concurrent orders flowing through the MotoMaker customization engine.

Thus, when we opened the promotion this morning, an extraordinary spike in concurrent orders caused our website to go down. We couldn’t fulfill orders. The site became unstable. While some orders were filled, many customers tried all day to place their orders, unsuccessfully. Customers were left frustrated. 

We have since found a solution that we believe addresses the concurrent order issue. Motorolans are hard at work right now, implementing that solution.

Here is what we are going to do: Starting at 12 pm EST/9 am PST this Wednesday, we will relaunch the $349 promotion. To help make up for this major inconvenience to shoppers, we will also add an additional promotional day on Monday, December 9. We will double the quantity of phones available, while supplies last, to allow as many people as possible to take advantage of the promotion. We’re also extending the 30% off offer on accessories to these two days. 

Please note that MotoMaker.com will open up for regular business tomorrow (Tuesday, December 3). We will stay the course on our regular sales as we restore our promotional prices for Wednesday and Monday.

Stay tuned to our Twitter, G+ and Facebook pages for more updates. We understand people want frequent communications from us so we will do a better job at keeping you informed.

On behalf of all Motorolans, I apologize for what occurred today. I appreciate your understanding as we get this fixed in time for Wednesday and Monday. 

Posted by Dennis Woodside, CEO

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Moto G Comes to the US in Time for the Holidays on Motorola.com

We’re giving people plenty of mobile goodness to gobble up this holiday season. Starting today, people in the US can purchase Moto G (GSM version) on Motorola.com with no contract, no SIM lock and an unlockable bootloader for USD$179 with 8GB of storage or USD$199 for 16GB.


That’s one third of the price of current high-end phones, for a smartphone stuffed with plenty of great features:

• A brilliant 4.5-inch HD display - the sharpest in its class - that goes edge to edge so you can enjoy movies, photos, video chats and more.
• The newest Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400 processor featuring a quad-core CPU for seamless multitasking and enjoying the web, videos and games, with all-day battery life.
• Android 4.3 Jellybean, the most up to date Android of any phone in its class, with a guaranteed upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat in the beginning of 2014. No skins to clutter or slow the experience and great performance with Google’s unbeatable mobile services such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome and Hangouts.
• Stylish design with a comfortable curved back and 19 customization options, including interchangeable backs (coming soon) - Motorola Shells and Flip Shells in seven colors as well as Grip Shells in five colors.

Moto G (GSM) is available starting today in the US. Moto G (CDMA) will be available in the US in January through carriers as previously announced. See our website for more details and contact your carrier for compatibility.

Moto G is also currently on sale in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Peru, UK, Germany, France, and Canada and is coming soon to other countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Moto G will be in more than 30 countries with 60 partners by early 2014.

IMAGES & B-ROLL: Click this link for images and b-roll (you agree to our license terms when downloading images or video)

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You Asked, We Listened: Announcing Changes to Our Developer Edition Program

At Motorola, we’re focused on delivering the best Android experiences and the best of Google services. Over this past year, we’ve worked very hard to create ways for users to express themselves using their mobile devices. Customers who purchase Developer Edition devices want the flexibility to take this even further and tinker with the operating system. This may include creating and flashing a custom build of Android or porting one from an enthusiast community. Up until now, when a customer requested a bootloader unlock code we would void the warranty for that Developer Edition device.

We are excited to support the developer and enthusiast communities by making two key changes to the Developer Edition program:

• Requesting an unlock code will no longer void the device’s warranty
• We will start posting return-to-factory software images

For customers who have previously purchased a 2012 or 2013 Developer Edition device directly from Motorola and who have requested a bootloader unlock code, we will reinstate the warranty effective from the date of original purchase. (You’ll recognize these models because they come with a printed “Developer Edition” across the back and include the Moto X DE (for GSM networks), Moto X DE (for Verizon), and Droid Maxx DE (Verizon).)

In addition, recovery images (as shipped from the factory) will be posted here. A developer or enthusiast can use this image to restore their device to run with its original factory software.

We hope that you like these changes. Keep telling us what you think (you can use the comments section below or participate in one of the many G+ forums such as Moto X).

We strongly believe in the developer and enthusiast communities and intend to keep making changes to better support them.

Posted by Punit Soni, Software Product Management

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Update 3: Some Sweet News: KitKat Comes to Moto X First on Verizon Wireless; Now on T-Mobile, AT&T

We see our job as taking the world’s best mobile operating system from Google and building world-class products and experiences for our users. Continually making them better is just as important. So what could be sweeter than Android 4.4, KitKat, rolling out in phases to Moto X on Verizon Wireless starting today!

Our software team has been hard at work bringing the latest version of Android to our Moto X users more quickly than ever. When it came to KitKat, we couldn’t wait to deliver. Our software strategy is to build on a pure Android foundation and complement existing Google services, not compete with them. We think this latest release is just that—all the features you love about your Moto X with the latest Android OS.

The KitKat update brings a bunch of improvements, including some of our favorites:

• An improved phone dialer. Now you can search for contacts directly from the dial-pad and easily see and tap on those you contact frequently.
• More gallery goodies. KitKat packs in some cool, new gallery effects—such as Posterize, Highlights, and Edges. You can even use the Draw feature to annotate your photos freehand with your finger.
• New Hangouts app. All of your conversations now in one place—texts, video calls, and other chats all together in one app. Plus, you can now send animated gifs and share your location.
• Color Emoji. For when words aren’t enough, the Google Keyboard now includes colorful characters to send in text messages and other communications.
• Drag to focus and expose. An updated camera app lets you control both the focus and exposure of your photos. Simply drag your finger to set just the right exposure and focus point.
• And more… Restyled status and navigation bars, new full-screen mode, and enhancements to Motorola features like Touchless Control.

And this is just the beginning -- we will have more KitKat for Moto X news to share on other carriers and countries very soon.

For more details and information, please see our release notes or check our software upgrade page.

Updated November 21, 2013
KitKat is now rolling out to Moto X users on T-Mobile.

Updated November 22, 2013
KitKat is now rolling out to Moto X users on AT&T.

Updated December 12, 2013
KitKat is now rolling out to Moto X users on Sprint and US Cellular.

Posted by Steve Horowitz, SVP Software Engineering

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Introducing Moto G: An Exceptional Phone At An Exceptional Price

People all around the world want to be a part of the mobile Internet so they can access the world’s information, share, and connect with the things that matter to them. But the smartphone industry has relegated hundreds of millions of smartphone buyers to second-class status, preventing them from experiencing the mobile Internet at its best.

That’s because price-conscious consumers who don’t want to pay $600 or more for high-end smartphones have been left with two bad options. The first is to buy cheap, new smartphones made with second-rate technology that don’t do justice to modern apps and experiences like navigation, video chat and games. The second is to buy “low cost” versions of premium products that were released two or three years ago and are already obsolete.

We think there should be a better option. Everybody deserves to be on the mobile Internet, and price shouldn’t stand in the way of anyone having a truly good smartphone to get them there.

Today we’re introducing Moto G, a smartphone that delivers a premium experience for a third of the price of current high-end phones. Moto G includes:

• A brilliant 4.5-inch HD display - the sharpest in its class - that goes edge-to-edge so you can enjoy movies, photos, video chats and more.
• The newest Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400 processor featuring a quad-core CPU for seamless multitasking and enjoying the web, videos and games, with all-day battery life.
• Android 4.3 Jellybean, the most up to date Android of any phone in its class, with a guaranteed upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat at the beginning of 2014. No skins to clutter or slow the experience, and great performance with Google’s unbeatable mobile services such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome and Hangouts.
• Stylish design with a comfortable curved back and 19 customization options, including interchangeable Motorola Shells and Flip Shells in seven colors as well as Grip Shells in five colors.

Moto G goes on sale this week in Brazil and parts of Europe and will be available within the next few weeks throughout Latin America, Europe, Canada and parts of Asia. It will be available in the US, India, the Middle East and more of Asia in early January. Moto G will be in more than 30 countries with 60 partners by 2014.

In the US, Moto G will be sold on Motorola.com, with no contract, no SIM lock and an unlockable bootloader for USD$179 with 8GB of storage and USD$199 for 16GB. Moto G will also be available through various carriers and retailers.

IMAGES & B-ROLL: Click this link (also in the footer) for images and b-roll (you agree to our license terms when downloading images or video)


About Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility, owned by Google, creates smartphones, tablets and wireless accessories that simplify, connect and enrich people's lives. For more information visit motorola.com/mobility.

Certain features, services and applications are network dependent and may not be available in all areas; additional terms, conditions and/or charges may apply. All features, functionality and other product specifications are subject to change without notice or obligation. Contact your service provider for details.

MOTOROLA and the Stylized M registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC. Google is a trademark of Google, Inc. All other trademarks the property of their respective owners. © 2013 Motorola Mobility LLC. All rights reserved.

Media Contacts
Danielle McNally
danielle@motorola.com

Kristine Mulford
kristine@motorola.com

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Moto X Brings the Gift of Choice to All Major U.S. Carriers For the Holidays

From your clothes to your car, you express your personal style. Why should your smartphone be any different?

Moto X, the first smartphone designed by you and assembled in the USA, is now available for customization on all major U.S. carriers including Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T.




Just in time for the holidays, you can now choose to add a custom phrase to the back of your Moto X. With fiber laser technology, you can sign your design like never before. Show your team spirit, sport your nickname or give a gift with the ultimate personal touch by adding this free feature when you customize your Moto X on Moto Maker.

Using our online studio, Moto Maker, you can customize your device inside and out. Select your front, back and accent colors, choose memory, add accessories and more. Using 3D beta, a new feature that uses WebGL* technology, spin, zoom, and explore every angle of your uniquely designed phone before it’s ever assembled. Go on...give it a try.

And the best part? For a limited time, Moto X will be available for the promotional price of $99.99 with a new two-year contract from participating carriers. See here for details.

Coming soon, your Moto X will get even sweeter with Android 4.4 KitKat. Stay up to date on the latest upgrade information on our support site.

Now, show us your style!



*3D Beta is best viewed with Google Chrome. Don’t worry, if you haven’t yet upgraded our responsive design for mobile, tablet, and other browser platforms will continue to work in standard mode.

WebGL is not supported by all browsers and requires a capable graphics card with updated drivers. Mac and PC platforms are only supported at this time. For a full list of WebGL capable browsers, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebGL#Desktop_browsers. To test your browser now, visit http://get.webgl.org/

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Introducing Motorola Spotlight Stories™ - Storytelling Designed for Smartphones

Smart phones have become deeply personal devices, indispensable in our lives.  Storytelling is the most timeless and human of activities.  Yet the stories that live on our mobile phones are mostly adapted from other media -- like TV shows, movies and books -- merely shrunk down to a smaller screen.  Why is that?  We decided to change it.  So, we created a new way of telling stories, one designed specifically for smartphones, where the capabilities of the device are part of the experience itself.

Together with our team of Motorola engineers and Oscar-winning director Jan Pinkava, we’re happy to announce the debut of Windy Day, the first immersive, interactive story made for mobile phones, launched using a first-of-its-kind storytelling platform called Motorola Spotlight Stories.

Motorola Spotlight Stories aren’t games, movies or videos. They’re different.  New.  Here’s how some of our first audience members reacted when they saw Windy Day for the first time:

When the first Android phone came out almost five years ago, it had roughly the same graphics computation performance as a Nintendo Gameboy Advance, which came out five years before that. Since then, the performance improvement of mobile processors has been astonishing.  The graphics chipset on the Moto X has 600 times the computation capability of that first Android device, and next year mobile graphics processors will surpass the computation capabilities of video game consoles such as the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Where is all that graphics power going?  When we measured it, we found that outside of a few graphically advanced apps and games, it’s barely being used.  It was a graphics-processing treasure chest hidden in plain sight.

So, we decided to make something new.

We tuned the Moto X so that, even in the most stressful user-interface conditions, up to 60% of its graphics capability is accessible. We took advantage of that access to build a powerful creative canvas for storytellers, incorporating a real-time 3D graphics engine, an advanced rendering technique from Pixar called OpenSubdiv, and sensor algorithms adapted from the landing systems of interplanetary spacecraft. Really.

We invited some of the best storytellers of our generation to paint something on this canvas.  Jan Pinkava, the Oscar-winning director of Geri’s Game and co-director of Ratatouille, Oscar-winning producer Karen Dufilho, animator and Academy Award nominee Doug Sweetland, Caldecott-winning illustrator Jon Klassen, veteran animator Mark Oftedal, composer Scot Stafford and artists from eight different countries joined us to build the first Motorola Spotlight Story: Windy Day.  It’s our gift to you.  We hope it makes you smile.

Motorola Spotlight Stories are featured exclusively on the Moto X. Stay tuned for more, because we are continuing to work with award-winning storytellers.  There are a lot more stories to tell.

Watch what happened when one of our own product managers, Kevin, showed Windy Day to his 2-year-old son—then check out Windy Day for yourself.



Baback Elmieh
Advanced Technologies and Project (ATAP) Technical Program Lead

Visit our Tumblr page to stay up to date with future Stories and further information on the technical achievements.

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Goodbye Sticky. Hello Ara.

Over the last six months, our MAKEwithMOTO team took Sticky, a truck wrapped entirely in velcro and filled with rooted, hackable Motorola smartphones and high-end 3D printing equipment, across the country for a series of make-a-thons. On that trip we saw the first signs of a new, open hardware ecosystem made possible by advances in additive manufacturing and access to the powerful computational capabilities of modern smartphones. These included new devices and applications that we could never have imagined from inside our own labs. Open fuels innovation. See some examples here, here, and here.

After the trip, we asked ourselves, how do we bring the benefits of an open hardware ecosystem to 6 billion people?

Meet Ara.

Led by Motorola’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, Project Ara is developing a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. We want to do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software: create a vibrant third-party developer ecosystem, lower the barriers to entry, increase the pace of innovation, and substantially compress development timelines.

Our goal is to drive a more thoughtful, expressive, and open relationship between users, developers, and their phones. To give you the power to decide what your phone does, how it looks, where and what it’s made of, how much it costs, and how long you’ll keep it.

Here’s a sneak peek at early designs for Project Ara:

The design for Project Ara consists of what we call an endoskeleton (endo) and modules.  The endo is the structural frame that holds all the modules in place. A module can be anything, from a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter--or something not yet thought of!

We’ve been working on Project Ara for over a year. Recently, we met Dave Hakkens, the creator of Phonebloks. Turns out we share a common vision: to develop a phone platform that is modular, open, customizable, and made for the entire world. We’ve done deep technical work. Dave created a community. The power of open requires both.  So we will be working on Project Ara in the open, engaging with the Phonebloks community throughout our development process, as well as asking questions to our Project Ara research scouts (volunteers interested in helping us learn about how people make choices). In a few months, we will also send an invitation to developers to start creating modules for the Ara platform (to spice it up a bit, there might be prizes!). We anticipate an alpha release of the Module Developer’s Kit (MDK) sometime this winter.

So stay tuned. There will be a lot more coming from us in the next few months.

--Paul Eremenko, and the Motorola Advanced Technology and Projects group, Project Ara Team

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Hey, New York: Moto Tweet Fleet to the Rescue

At Motorola, the kinds of things we obsess over are answering real people’s needs and unlocking the power of personal, customized interactions.

Then we got to thinking: Why should we stop at device experiences?

So we’re rolling out a new social experiment to take customer support to a completely new level: the Moto Tweet Fleet. It’s a roving troupe of Motorola ambassadors that leverages public hyper-local data on Twitter to rush to your rescue in real time when you need help.

We’ve all been there: Your battery is dead. You’re lost and frustrated. You’re hungry and cranky. Whatever it is, the friendly fleet is ready to come give a hand. While you’re with the fleet, you can even meet our new Moto X and customize your own using the Moto Maker online studio.

Oh, and did we mention swag? We’ve partnered with smart USA to deck out the fleet with stylish smart cars, from which ambassadors hand out Sol Republic headphones and other Motorola accessories to lucky passersby. What could be better to pair with a fully customizable Moto X and accessories than a customizable smart car?

We’re starting with a beta program in neighborhoods throughout New York City and hope to expand to Chicago next. If you’re in New York, all you have to do is tweet at @MotoTweetFleet between 11 a.m. ET and 7 p.m. ET daily. See you out there.

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