Motorola had a quiet time in the mobile space at this year’s Mobile World Congress, with an expected reveal of its new Moto G6 line failing to materialise.
However the company was keen to talk about its ambitions for the mobile space, particularly in the UK and Europe, which have long been highly successful markets.
"We've been on a really good growth curve as Motorola in the UK over the last year or so …we've got really great momentum,” Miles Norman, Motorola general manager UK & Ireland, told TechRadar Pro at MWC 2018.
Norman notes that Motorola saw a 30 percent year on year growth for the company’s smartphone shipments in the UK during 2017 – not a bad showing when the total global figure actually fell.
"The opportunity is still there, but what we've found is a way to keep growing in a market that's declining by bringing really strong devices to the market at an affordable price,” he says.
Heritage
Motorola’s approach of providing “premium devices for all” appears to be paying dividends, Norman says, highlighting the Moto G’s position as the top-selling UK smartphone under £200.
He adds that although the UK market has always been an extremely competitive one, the company benefits from the strong ties customers feel to the iconic Motorola brand.
“We have the heritage of Motorola,” he says, “great design, great features, and a great engineering team behind us to bring really strong products to the market.”
“Our brand still resonates within the UK market very strongly, and so for people that are looking for a very good device, at a good price, we are very strong in that space, and outperform the market.”
Norman also notes that Motorola is still enjoying a number of strong retail partnerships in the UK, despite the challenges of selling in what is largely an operator-driven market.
The company enjoys strong relationships with retail partners and operators across the country, backed up with a strong channel and SMB strategy that saw sales to businesses rise 50 percent last year.
"We're in a really good position, because we partner with the majority of partners selling mobile phones in the UK” he says, “we have a very strong relationship with all partners across operator, retail and online."
UK leaders
For now, Norman and his “lean, mean team” in the UK are focused on continuing to grow the Motorola brand and extend their user base across both consumer and enterprise.
"We're very excited about the year coming up,” he says, “we'll continue to really drive and lead in the sectors where we're strongest at the moment."
"The only constant is change…we have to move with those changes, and with the right relationships and partnerships in place, we're able to maximise what we do, keep our head down and focus on bringing great products to market at the right time."