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One-Quarter Of Current iPhone Users Upgraded From Motorola Razr

The Motorola Razr was the iPhone of its day. Stylish and expensive, it was the it phone back in 2005. This recently revealed statistic, which should concern Motorola a lot, isn't all that surprising. The Motorola Razr has been a best-selling mobile phone for years, meaning a lot of people have it -- or in this case, had it. But going from a Razr to an iPhone is quite an upgrade, one that Motorola is clearly losing out on.

This should be a tough number for Motorola to chew on. As far as we know, Apple has sold 5.4 million iPhones to date. If J.D. Power and Associates' numbers are right (it polled some 20,000 mobile phone users), then that means 1.3 million iPhone users used to be Motorola customers. While 1.3 million doesn't sound like the biggest number when compared with Motorola's global sales figures, it should shake Motorola's core. That's 1.3 million customers who lost faith in Motorola and moved on to another product, right at a time when Motorola needs to retain as many customers as possible. (Motorola still holds 25% of the U.S. market, but just 5% of the European market.)

While we might want to label the iPhone-adopting crowd something like "I must have the hot new thing but only every two years when my contract is up" demographic, you have to wonder if people will leave the iPhone in droves when their contracts are up in a year or two. I think once the public's eyes are opened up to the power that smart devices, especially those with highly-capable browsers, have, it would be nigh impossible to revert to a bare-bones phone.

The real story here, however, is that Motorola has lost the opportunity to keep its customers. Its product line hasn't excited buyers, and the company's stock recently reached its lowest point in years. One of Motorola's manufacturing partners, Fox Conn, has said that it is performing poorly specifically because its "biggest customer" is having a hard time. Just yesterday, an analyst called Motorola a "half-baked mess".

Can Motorola pull itself together and revive its place in the market as a technology leader? It would be nice to read headlines like "Motorola's Newest Phone A Smash Hit" at some point in the future.

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