????幾周前的一天，在芝加哥歷史悠久的商業市場大廈18樓，我和其他幾十位記者焦急等待著摩托羅拉（Motorola）新品發布會開幕。那間屋子的墻上涂滿了各種鮮艷的顏色，形狀大小各異的椅子圍成一個半圓，簇擁著舞臺。我旁邊的一面墻上畫著類似涂鴉的壁畫，上面寫著讓人有些費解的兩句話：“我們想要更多”和“謝謝你?！蔽葑忧胺酱钪粋€臨時舞臺，旁邊擺著兩臺電視，上面各顯示著一個像蝙蝠翅膀一樣的“M”字母巨型Logo。

????歡迎來到煥然一新的摩托羅拉——它很快就將歸入聯想（Lenovo）旗下，雖然它像極了過去那個摩托羅拉。

????趁著等待發布會開始的工夫，我回憶了一下作為美國電子行業一桿大旗的摩托羅拉公司多年來是怎樣影響我的生活的。當然，一提起摩托羅拉這個品牌，大多數人馬上會想起當年那個叱咤風云的無線電巨頭。由于蜂窩技術和移動電話的特性，摩托羅拉曾是很多人生活中一個重要組成部分。比如在高中時，我曾干過一陣賣手機的工作，我記得當時摩托羅拉的StarTAC手機比較難賣（因為它的價格非常高）。不過最終我還是把存貨都賣出去了，這是當時手機行業將迎來一個大發展的初步跡象。幾年后，我進入美國無線運營商Verizon Wireless公司工作，我發現摩托羅拉的Razr手機在上市整整兩年后依然賣得非常好，實在是令人費解——兩年的時間在科技界可以說簡直就像一個朝代那么久遠。在我人生的大部分時間里，摩托羅拉都是當之無愧的科技巨頭，但如今它早已不復當年的風光了。

????2011年，摩托羅拉分裂成一家移動設備公司——摩托羅拉移動（Motorola Mobility），和一家基礎設施公司——摩托羅拉解決方案（Motorola Solutions）。二者共享的只有“摩托羅拉”這個品牌。后來摩托羅拉移動被谷歌（Google）短暫收購，而今很快就將被聯想控股。

????再回到這次發布會上來。摩托羅拉移動新任首裁里克?奧斯特洛左手戴著一支智能手表走上舞臺。他喊出“自由選擇你的選擇”，這句口號也成了當天發布會的主題。奧斯特洛介紹了兩款新手機Moto X和Moto G，這兩款手機的所有組件都可以定制。另外摩托羅拉還發布了一款備受矚目的安卓（Android）智能手表——Moto 360，用戶可以選擇不同顏色和多款表帶。最后，摩托羅拉展示了一款名叫Moto Hint，極具未來主義風格的藍牙耳機，它也可以選擇不同的顏色和材質。

????新Moto X是摩托羅拉試圖在手機市場力挽狂瀾的第二次發力。作為摩托羅拉的旗艦手機，第一代的MotoX發布于2013年年底。這款具有競爭力，可以定制的手機價格低廉，而且是在美國組裝的。盡管它可以隨時使用語音控制功能，電池續航也可以支持一整天，但它自始至終沒什么市場吸引力，而且好像總是在降價。等到奧斯特洛的講解完畢后，我問他為什么Moto X的價格總是在波動，他答道：“當我們推出Moto X的時候，我們做了大量工作，研究如何在高端智能手機市場獲得成功。我們發現它的最佳價格點是低于三星（Samsung）或蘋果（Apple）100到200美元。”因此新Moto X的裸機零售價為499美元，比蘋果或三星的同級產品低了150美元左右。

????A few weeks ago I found myself on the eighteenth floor of the historic Merchandise Mart building in downtown Chicago, surrounded by dozens of anxious journalists awaiting a press conference for Motorola’s new phone. We were in a room splashed with vivid hues and packed with chairs of varying shapes and sizes, arranged in a semi-circle pattern. A nearby wall had a graffiti-like mural that read, somewhat perplexingly, “We want more” and “Thank you.” At the front of the room was a makeshift stage flanked by two televisions. A giant Ma Batwings “M” was plastered on each display.

????Welcome to the new, soon-to-be Lenovo-owned Motorola—it’s surprisingly like the old one.

????As I waited for the proceedings to begin, I reflected on how much Motorola, long a stalwart of the U.S. electronics industry, had impacted my life. Sure, most people associate the name with the pioneering radio giant it once was. But, owing to the nature of cellular technology and mobile phones, Motorola has played an integral part in many people’s daily lives. For example, in high school I had a job selling cell phones, and I recall Motorola’s StarTAC being a tough sell. (It had a steep price tag.) Still, I was able to move inventory, a sign of things to come. Years later, I worked for Verizon Wireless, where I found myself bewildered at how well the Motorola Razr still sold well a full two years—eons in technology—after it arrived on the market. For much of my life, Motorola was a giant in technology. That’s not quite the case today.

????(In 2011, the company split into a mobile devices business, Motorola Mobility, and an infrastructure business, Motorola Solutions. They share only a name; Motorola Mobility, after a brief period under Google, will soon be owned by Lenovo.)

????But back to the event at hand. Rick Osterloh, the newly-appointed president of Motorola Mobility, took the stage wearing a smart watch on his left wrist. “Choose to have the freedom to choose,” he declared. It would turn out to be the day’s theme. Osterloh and company went on to introduce two new phones, the Moto X and Moto G, that could be customized front to back. They introduced a highly-anticipated Google Android-based watch, theMoto 360, which came in different colors and with various bands. Finally, they showed off the Moto Hint, a futuristic Bluetooth headset, available in an assortment of colors and materials.

????The new Moto X, in particular, was notable because it was the company’s second shot at introducing a market-moving device. The first model of the phone, the company’s flagship model, launched in late 2013. It was Motorola’s attempt to lay claim to a new supremacy—the handset was competitive, customizable, affordable, and assembled in the United States. Despite always-on voice commands and an all-day battery, the phone never gained traction, and always seemed to be on sale. When his presentation was over, I pressed Osterloh on why the phone’s price seemed to be in a constant flux. “We learned a lot about what it took to succeed in the premium smartphone business when we launched the Moto X,” he told me. “For us, we found the sweet spot was about one- to two-hundred dollars below Samsung and Apple.” As such, the new Moto X retails at $499 without contract, about $150 lower than comparable Apple or Samsung devices.