All eyes may have been on Apple on Tuesday with the launch of its new iPhones, but that didn’t stop Moto X maker Motorola and parent company Google making a bid for a few column inches with the official opening of the Flextronic factory (above) in Fort Worth, Texas, where the new handset is being made.
The factory, which has actually been in operation since August 6, is currently pushing out 100,000 Moto X devices a month. Motorola says the recently launched handset is the first and only smartphone to be assembled in the US, a claim it hopes will appeal to US-based consumers keen to support the nation’s economy.
Tens of millions?
Though 100,000 units may seem small compared to what some China-based facilities pump out each week for the likes of Apple and Samsung, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside told Reuters the Fort Worth facility could one day produce “tens of millions” of handsets a year, though it would of course depend on demand.
He added that the 100,000 figure relates only to shipping figures and therefore is not an indication of how many Moto X handsets are finding their way into the hands of consumers.
The new Android smartphone – noted for its comfortable-to-hold design, Touchless Control voice activation system, and Active Display feature that automatically shows up new messages on the screen even when the device is sleeping – allows consumers to customize their device online prior to purchase. The fact that the factory is in Texas means US-based consumers then only have to wait four days for the arrival of their new personalized Moto X smartphone. Motorola also wins with a more straightforward logistics operation and lower delivery costs.
Guests at Tuesday’s official opening of the Flextronic factory included Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Texas governor Rick Perry.
Motorola chairman Dennis Woodside took to the Motorola blog to highlight the occasion.
“Some said it couldn’t be done, but the factory we just opened and the people working there are proof that it could,” Woodside wrote. “We’ve created more than 2,000 jobs in Fort Worth in less than four months, and we’re still hiring.”
And with the whole project springing from Google’s purchase of Motorola in 2011, it may come as little surprise that, courtesy of the Web giant, you can now take a peek inside the Fort Worth factory via Street View.
