HBS: Motorola's Bet on the Razr's Edge

Since it's a slow news day, I decided to post about this article from Harvard Business School even if it has a tenuous analyst link. This case study discusses how Motorola overcame its reputation as the manufacturer of run-of-the-mill cell phones with the introduction of the Razr V3.

As John Jackson at Yankee Group noted, the Razr represented "a departure [for]…the stodgy, engineering-driven, Midwestern company that was Motorola."

So how did Motorola reinvent its image and revive the company's fortunes through the surprising hit Razr? By focusing on simplicity of design and not trying to out feature the competion. It's well worth the read and a reminder to us gadget geeks that having every conceivable feature is not always best. Hmm, sounds like the iPod...