Motorola’s Media Monster lost by mad marketing

Motorola have done what no other phone manufacturer has dared, and released a brand new mobile phone at the same time as the iPhone.

The phone in question is Motorola’s “media monster”, the Motorola Z8.

The Z8 was announced a few months ago, and Motorola have been trying to hype it up ever since.

It does offer new features that haven’t been seen on a Motorola before: 16 million colour screen, HSDPA and a huge storage capacity of up to 32GB.

But compete with the iPhone? It doesn’t stand a chance!

Worse, by releasing the phone at the same time as the iPhone, Motorola have guaranteed it will get virutally no press coverage at all (well, except for this post of course!).

There couldn’t be a worse day this year to announce a new mobile phone – way to go, Motorola!

Motorola are clearly pitching the Z8 against the iPhone, as they keep focusing on its multimedia capabilities. They’ve even thrown in a mobile version of the Bourne Identity for you to watch on the Z8, just to ram home the message that this phone really is a Media Monster.

However, it’s not the features of the iPhone that everyone’s raving about, it’s the unique user interface, which makes its competitors look like 20th century relics. In this respect, the Z8 simply cannot compete, and will end up competing with similar phones from other manufacturers.

Which makes it all the more odd that Motorola have chosen the day of the iPhone’s launch to release the Z8. It can’t be compared to an iPhone, yet its release will be totally overshadowed by the iPhone’s.

Motorola may just have ensured that their media monster dies a death of obscurity before anyone even notices it’s for sale!

Motorola Z8 Media Monster

For those itching for more details, here’s the press release:

The “media monster” has landed. Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announces the immediate availability of the MOTO Z8 kick-slider handset in Spain, with other parts of Europe and Asia to follow. The Z8, a complete entertainment center, offering mobile TV1, video and music from one unique device, is available through Telefónica via Movistar.

”We are excited to deliver our media monster to mobile entertainment fans around the world, beginning with Spain,” said Allen Burnes, corporate vice president and general manager, Motorola Mobile Devices, EMEA and India. “With the Z8, consumers can listen to music, download video, create blogs and record and store memories all from the best multimedia platforms available today.”

Motorola brings entertainment to life with the MOTO Z8. The large QVGA 16 million color TFT display optimizes the viewing experience in both portrait and landscape mode which can be put to good use with the in-box, full-length film, “The Bourne Identity,” from Universal Pictures. The movie in your hand is further enhanced using the inbox S9 Bluetooth stereo headphones. The multi-media experience continues with applications such as BSkyB, Podcast.com and CNN.

The Z8 delivers best-in-class design, functionality and the ultimate multimedia experience. With optional 4GB MicroSD memory cards (expandable up to 32GB when available), – entertainment lovers can store up to 12 full-length motion pictures2 or approximately 70 hours of music4, in addition to approximately 80MB of free internal user memory.3 Lightning fast Internet downloads using HSDPA and powerful onboard dual processors allows consumers to surf the Web while listening to music, without missing a beat.

The Z8 features an 8x zoom on its 2.0 megapixel camera with lumi LED light and let’s consumers record and watch their favorite moments with crystal clear video capture and playback at 30 frames per second.

Availability

With its sleek, perfect fit-to-face design, the Z8 is the ultimate in entertainment and is now available to Movistar clients through Telefónica and will soon be available in other parts of Europe as well as Asia.