Motorola Says Moto X is Profitable, Shipping 100,000 Units a Week Out of Texas Plant
The Moto X is the first smartphone to be produced in a manufacturing facility located in the U.S., which means there are certain implications to how well it does or does not sell. It's still early, but according to Motorola, it's making a profit on the modest number of Moto X handset it produces and sells from its Texas plant.
In an interview with Reuters, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside said the Texas facility, which is operated by contract manufacturer Flextronics, is capable of producing tens of millions of phones a year. Currently Motorola is cranking out 100,000 Moto X phones per week, well short of the factory's potential, but this is just the first phase of a much bigger plan. Based on the strategy Motorola has in place, "where we need to be right now is 100,000 units," so everything is going as expected.
Outside of the fact that the Moto X is made in the U.S., one of the draws of the smartphone is that you can customize the look when ordering directly from Motorola's website. Woodside wouldn't say what the ratio of standard to custom phone orders is, though he did note custom orders were "substantial."
The Moto x, which we reviewed here, faces some stiff competition. Samsung recently released its Galaxy S4 handset, while Apple just unveiled its iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C models.
In an interview with Reuters, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside said the Texas facility, which is operated by contract manufacturer Flextronics, is capable of producing tens of millions of phones a year. Currently Motorola is cranking out 100,000 Moto X phones per week, well short of the factory's potential, but this is just the first phase of a much bigger plan. Based on the strategy Motorola has in place, "where we need to be right now is 100,000 units," so everything is going as expected.
Outside of the fact that the Moto X is made in the U.S., one of the draws of the smartphone is that you can customize the look when ordering directly from Motorola's website. Woodside wouldn't say what the ratio of standard to custom phone orders is, though he did note custom orders were "substantial."
The Moto x, which we reviewed here, faces some stiff competition. Samsung recently released its Galaxy S4 handset, while Apple just unveiled its iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C models.
