Motorola demonstrates it is just as bad as Google at this retail thing

Stream:

News Bot

Your News Bitch
3,282
0
0
0
Console: Headset:
Android By Russell Holly Dec. 4, 2013 2:26 pm
It looks like the new Google-powered Motorola has absorbed some of the worst parts of the Mountain View company’s ability to sell things, as two different attempts at a Cyber Monday sale come crashing down around them.
Despite rave reviews, the Moto X isn’t terribly popular when compared to the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4. It’s a fantastic phone that deserves some attention from the world, but it’s starting to look like the only people in Motorola’s way are the folks at Motorola.
The Moto X launch was plagued with an AT&T exclusivity for their unique MotoMaker service, which is still today missing the amazing wooden backs that were shown off at launch. For their Cyber Monday promotion, Motorola grabbed a lot of attention by announcing 30% off accessories and $150 off all versions of the Moto X. Unfortunately, actually reaching the checkout is turned out to be a lot of trouble.
The first attempt at the Black Friday sale didn’t happen at all. The Motorola website crashed, and MotoMaker was broken for most of the day. When everything was finally fixed, Motorola announced via an official apology from CEO Dennis Woodside that they were going to open the sale back up for two more days in order to allow as many people access to the store as possible. This seemed like a great way to make up for the website failure, right until the sale opened up today.

Instead of a functional website with a simple checkout service like you would normally see when you head to the Motorola website, users were guided to a form where you would apply to wait in line for your turn to purchase a Moto X. If you were selected, Motorola emailed you a code that allowed you access to the purchase website.
According to their Twitter account, Motorola used up all of their available codes in less then five minutes. Those users were able to make purchases, but everyone else was told to try again on Monday for the second day of the sale.
This nightmarish shopping experience has all the hallmarks of a Google-made experience, unfortunately. Anyone who has every tried to purchase tickets for Google IO, or tried to purchase a Nexus 4 on launch day last year, is likely reading this and experiencing flashbacks from when nearly the same thing happened.
The end result is a ton of hype that immediately turns sour when unhappy users do their thing on social networks. For all of their incredible engineering skills, Motorola and Google have demonstrated time and again that they lack what it takes to maintain an online retail presence under siege, and that is truly unfortunate.
Now read: YotaPhone launches with E Ink display on the back for $675



More...