Motorola has always had a place in my imagination. As the voiceless heart of technology. In my family, generations ago, Motorola was known as the makers of a fine wood paneled console the size of a dresser that did one thing really well: play records. That was a long time ago. A different age. After car stereos and typewriters it found it's way into business machines and then-- the original Atari devices. In addition to my beloved Atari 800xl, Motorola was at the heart of the Apple Computer, Apple II, Macintosh, and when I was a young Art School student, inside my shiny G4, I could open the door and see the symbol on the processor. The same one that was inside the Atari 2600 I couldn't help but disassemble 15 years earlier

Then, inexplicably, the source of wins like the StarTac and the cordless phone lost it's way. It began making lackluster phones, it's processors couldn't keep up with Apple's ambitions, it's name became tarnished as simple things like buying a movie ticket would fall at over 30 clicks on even their best phones, at a time when my Visor Edge with the CellPhone cartridge could do it in 10. Then, the ultimate heartbreak moment as the beauty of the RAZR phone was matched with a terrible beast of an operating system. Fashion victims in tow, they took a seat at

the table with Siemens and SonyEriccson-- the only handset manufacturers without devices that meet the arbitrary "Smartphone" industry specification -- or the more real expectations of the consumer.

Flashes in the pan like the Motorola Q were doomed from the start by Microsoft. Who after dominating the market with Windows XP and Outlook on the desktop and with WindowsMobile on the phone, still depended heavily on third parties to keep the contacts and email synchronized between desktops and handsets. A tiny task still unaccomplished by Microsoft. The worlds most competitive #FAIL and Motorola's unfortunate choice of a partner.

Now, there is real hope for every former or current RAZR owner that wishes they had a stylish device that was as functional as an iphone but not part of Apple's pie. --and it's not an embarrassing WindowsMobile Q disaster.

It's a new strategy from an old friend of innovation: Support the developer before the phone --before the customer, before the bottom line. Spend on innovation in lieu competition for proprietary dominance. Offer whole and un-crippled devices. Let the dreamers dream.

Masterful.

Wild Prediction: Motorola out-sells HTC in the 2010 Holiday Season next year.
http://developer.motorola.com/
 

Keep this up and maybe Apple and Motorola will find themselves collaborating again some day.