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Nailing a Cool Phone

There’s little dispute that Motorola’s RAZR mobile phone has been a trend-setting device for the past eighteen months. Its main attractions have been its thinness, its graceful nickel-plated copper-alloy keypad, and its sexy anodized aluminum casing.

In short: it’s a cool phone.

Motorola designers did not skimp on basic telephony and technical features either. But many people have been – and still are – attracted initially to the ultra-slim RAZR for its simple good looks and feel.

Striking a Chord

Motorola’s emphasis on design has obviously struck a strong chord with consumers. In the past year alone, consumers have increasingly reported that one of the main motivators for choosing a particular mobile phone was that it was either “nicer looking” or “cool,” according to NPD consumer data. In fact, the “cool” factor has risen 44 percent in that time, and “nicer looking” has grown even more: up 80 percent.

cool phone chart

RAZRs have no doubt been a key industry sales driver. Its winning design has raised consumer awareness about a mobile phone’s look and feel, and helped drive RAZR sales to a commanding lead. In the most recent quarter, RAZR models accounted for over seven percent of all models sold. Its nearest competitor in terms of volume, LG’s VX-5200, had just under two percent share.

In RAZR’s wake, rival manufacturers have taken notice and introduced thin models of their own, such as the following:

Samsung’s MM-A900, also known as the “Blade”
Nokia’s coming 6126 and 6131 models
LG’s KG800, also called the “chocolate” phone (U.S. release date unspecified)

Nail the Basics

Much of the ‘thin’ design trend can be traced back to Jim Wicks, vice president and director of Motorola’s Consumer Experience Design group. He spent many years in Japan working at GK Design and later Sony. According to Wicks, his team at Motorola “sensed, and we still believe, that there’s a groundswell of consumers saying: ‘Nail the basics, and then give me something that really expresses me.’”

Getting back to the basics and adding a little personal expression have thus become a winning combination. Motorola’s rivals are starting to catch on, and the competition for design supremacy promises to be a heated one for the foreseeable future.

But winning designs have a way of fading. Motorola designers have already recognized this eventuality, and have shifted gears somewhat by introducing the thin candybar style SLVR model, and the rounded PEBL. Neither has yet to take off like the RAZR, and may never reach such lofty heights. Nonetheless, while rival manufacturers play catch up on thin model phones, Motorola is still striving to stay a step ahead.

Sometime next year, Motorola will roll out its SCPL (pronounced "scalpel") model, which is expected to be RAZR’s successor and rumored to have a glass cover. No one is betting that SCPL will rival the RAZR, but if it carves out its own niche and furthers Motorola’s brand, rivals are sure to follow.

The lesson here is twofold:

A winning handset design can capture a market for a time and boost a brand
To stay ahead, designers must keep innovating

The upshot: Popular designs rise and fall. Smart OEMs – and Motorola has been the smartest of late – know this and plan for product fatigue, and manage these cycles as best they can.

- Neil Strother, Research Director, Mobile Devices