Motorolas Droid 2:

Product Managers
Dilemma

Case Introduction

Motorola Droid Success Story

Oct 2009
Motorola launched Droid Smartphone

Dec 2009
Motorolas net income increased by whooping ~99% yoy after
launch of Droid Smartphone

Feb 2010
Following the success of Droid, Motorola started working on
Droid 2 launch

Customer Concerns
Tops reasons for Customer Returns of Motorolas Droid Smartphone

For both Verizon

and Motorola,
launching Droid 2
represents a
strategic doubling
down

It becomes all the

more necessary to
remove the
customer
disatisfiers which
might afect the
sales of Droid 2

Turn on/of
Main Keypad
Side keys (Volume/Camera)
Software Features
Display
Audio
No Complaint
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Based on the internal

findings of Verizon
team, customers are
dissatisfied with the
camera button and that
leads to return of
product

Camera Button Issue

Product Differentiation
Form
Slimmer sleek phone
with smoother
keypad
Not as big as iPhone
4 but big enough for
a decent smartphone
45-key slide-down
hardware QWERTY;
vertical and
horizontal on-screen
keyboards
3.7 inches display

Features

Style

1 GH quad core
processor, 480 x 854
pixels (~265 ppi
pixel density)

Polishedmodernvers
ion of its
predecessor

Corning gorilla glass

for protection
Adobe Flash and
HTML browsers
5 MP primary camera
with auto focus
Sleek keypad with
touch screen, multi
touch and QWERTY
keyboard available

Sturdy build with

functional styling
Slightly more
rounded edges

Customer-Value Hierarchy

Core Benefit: To talk to people

Basic Product:

Product Design
Product design is the totality of features that
afect how a product looks, feels, and functions
to a consumer
Motorola Droids camera button acts as a
barrier which afects the value to the customer
Designing features like multi-touch screen, 1
GHz processor, Adobe Flash, 5 MP camera adds
more value to the customer

Product Managers Dilemma

Keep the Current Design
Modify the physical camera
button
Remove the button
altogether

Questions To Answer
Camera Button
User trial
feedback on the
camera button
Droid 2 camera
button vs Droid
1
Internal
usability data
about a
mechanical
camera vs
software button
How to improve
the tactile feel
of pressing the
camera button

Market
Dynamics

Technical
Considerations

Importance of
mechanical button
as a differentiator

Alternative
Solutions

Consequences of
delay

Implications of
removing the
button
Additional
resources
Impact on
Schedule

Customer Value Proposition

Target
Market
Diferentiate
d&
Compelling

Evidences

High end Smartphone Market (Tech Savvy users)

Powerful 1 GHz processor

Android 2.2 Operating System
Flash supported Web Access
Intuitive Keyboard & expandable memory up to 40
GB

Based on Droid's success and end user feedback

from Verizon

User Trial Feedback

Based on Verizons feedback from the end users, Driods Camera
button has a critical issue that need a corrective action in Droid 2
Driods Camera button has a big size and its tactile feel is not crisp
Some end users may prefer iPhones approach, incorporating a
software only button on the display instead of a mechanical button
Button design change request by Verizon was supported by its
usability testing data and subscriber behavior knowledge

Market Dynamics
From 2009 to 2010, Androids share grew from 27%
to 42% and the increase in the processor speed
which Droid 2 ofers could get Motorola in a very
competitive position with Apples iPhone
Rumours of launching iPhone 4 by Apple is also an
issue that is making Motorola to accelerate the
launch of Droid 2
They aim to shrink the product development life
cycle for Droid 2 from 10 months to 6 months

..Contd
However, modifying the camera button design would force a slip in
the launch date
Design change will not only threaten to delay the launch, which
would have significant financial implications, but could potentially
create deep fissures in the collaborative environment of the cross
functional team
Decision has to taken keeping in consideration
Objective assessment of pros and cons of the options
The financial implications of extending the market window to slip the
launch date by one week or more
Inputs from each team on the impact of resolving this issue and
delaying the launch

Industrial
Design
Team
Customer
Support
Team

Marketing
Team
Decision
Engineerin
g
Team

Account
Manager
Supply
Chain

Customer Support Team

CUSTOMER SUPPORT TEAM

Minutes of the meeting held with Verizon

Significance of the issue

Verizons expectations

Customer supports recommendation

Marketing Team

Industrial Design Team

Engineering Team

Recommendations by engineering team

3 Camera buttons available in the market
a) Software button (on screen)
b) Hardware button ( like droid)
c) a mix of both
Impact of software only button
a) less chances of button getting broken
b) Users wont have to handle such huge button

Supply Chain/Manufacturing

Account Manager

Account Managers comments

Impact on droid 2 volume and sales
The average selling price/unit will down by 20 %
The initial shipping volume will go down by 10 %
Revenue hence will go down by :
~1- 0.8*0.9=0.28 *100 =28 %
Impact on long term relationship
Verizon might break their bond with Motorola
Motorola henceforth might lose a lot of revenue

Recommendations

Keeping the current design

Pros :
No delay in launch
No extra efort by industrial design team and the
engineering team
Cons:
Relationship with Verizon may be adversely efected
Lose on the market share due to dissatisfied users of Droid
Revenue would decrease by approximately 28%
Negatively impact co-marketing budget

Modifying the camera button to improve its tactile feel

Pros :
End users satisfaction would increase
Cons :
Launching Schedule impact a slip in launch date
Cost Impact due to design change

Removing mechanical camera

button
in favor of a software only button
Pros :
Removal of mechanical button that is acting as a
disatisfier would increase the chances of purchase
Expected Increase in Revenue due to strong competing
characteristics for the tech savvy smartphone market
Cons :
Slip in launch date
May negatively impact the collaborative environment
among the teams

THANK YOU