Much of the Moto X advertising, including a series of ‘Lazy phone’ ads, focuses on some of its unique features such as Touchless control, Active Display and Quick Capture. But Motorola is also playing up the fact that the Moto X is “Assembled in the USA” with shipments coming out of the company’s manufacturing plant in Texas. Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside revealed this week that volumes have been ramping up and have reached about 100,000 units a week now. “When you set up to ramp a factory you need a plan, and we have shipment targets we need to make with our carrier partners, and where we need to be right now is 100,000 units and that’s where we are,” Woodside explained to Reuters.
The milestone is the first phase of a larger plan that could eventually see the plant, operated by contract manufacturer Flextronics, ship out “tens of millions” of phones a year should the demand get to that point. For now though, the Moto X can only be considered a moderate success at best.
Woodside would not say what proportion of phones shipping were custom ones as opposed to standard models offered by carriers. He would only say that custom orders were “substantial” and that the Moto X was profitable.
Flextronics CEO Mike McNamara added in a separate interview that labour costs to assemble smartphones in the U.S. are about three times that of China but that the company recoups some of that through lower freight and logisitics costs as well as the ability to ship custom-built smartphones in four days.
AT&T is the only carrier currently offering Moto X customization. In Canada, the Moto X is offered exclusively by Rogers in black and white.
Source : Reuters