Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014 and is putting the storied Motorola brand name out to pasture. Sort of — it’s keeping half. Figuring the prime cut of the Motorola beef is in the Moto (not the rola), Lenovo plans to use ‘Moto by Lenovo‘ for its high-end mobile products and keep the cute and friendly Vibe name for its original line of low-cost devices.
[Lenovo VIBE X S960 IdeaPhone 5″ Unlocked Smartphone Phone at Amazon]
Going from Motorola to Moto is understandable branding in a world where short and punchy is the order of the day. Kentucky Fried Chicken gave way to KFC, American Express trademarked AMEX, Pizza Hut is The Hut now. IBM, GE, HP, AOL, and on and on. Anybody know what CVS stands for? But Lenovo also attaches its own name to the change, appending “by Lenovo” at least to begin. That’ll fall off like a butterfly’s cocoon if the new Moto brand does what Lenovo hopes. Or else Moto will eventually fall to Lenovo itself. A branding necessity for today: one message, clear, fast and consistent.