Within the last 24 hours, Motorola Mobility have quietly amended the Android update master list for all devices to exclude three major Android devices from long-promised Ice Cream Sandwich updates, chief among them two former flagships in the Motorola Atrix carried by AT&T in the US and the Motorola Photon carried by Sprint, while the Motorola Electrify was previously launched by U.S. Cellular. Previously, each device was to receive ICS by the beginning of the third quarter of the year, before the updates were further delayed to the fourth quarter until yesterday’s quiet update that confirmed each respective device would stay on Gingerbread.
While Motorola have yet to officially issue a statement on the matter, the fact that they are dropping support for three devices that are more than fully capable of running Android Ice Cream Sandwich may lie more with the way they were developed and who spearheaded their development, as all three devices were released during Motorola’s transitional period where the company was run by ex-Qualcomm head Sanjay Jha, who also led development of the Atrix and Photon 4G by forging new agreements with AT&T and Sprint and also gave rise to the now dead Webtop platform.
Since the Atrix 4G and its derivatives in the Photon 4G/Electrify were also able to use the first-generation Webtop software to use desktop-class Firefox and run Adobe Flash as well as the goal for more Linux development along with selling Lapdocks as netbook/laptop alternatives, the hybrid initiative became stuck in limbo before during and after the Google purchase, greatly affecting its future viability as a dedicated software platform.
As Motorola Mobility was purchased by Google last year, Motorola’s development activity has been considerably impacted by the purchase and subsequent integration of the company by Google, chief among the issues being the considerable delays in rolling out updates for devices released before the purchase, with Motorola only recently addressing the issues during recent product launches fro the RAZR M and Intel-based derivative in the RAZR i.
As Google seeks to kill off any Motorola Mobility initiatives that it feels are unnecessary or get in the way of its own goals, the death of Webtop may have also triggered a redirection of development resources away from devices that were built around support for the software such as the Atrix and Photon 4G and towards newer devices at the expense of those customers that still held on to the aforementioned phones, either because new agreements were signed for those devices that hinged on them being updated to Ice Cream Sandwich or owners wanted to keep those devices because of the Webtop support and relative expense of the Lapdock accessories.
Of course, Google and Motorola now have to deal with the ire of those owners that they’ve effectively abandoned because of the lack of transparency regarding the status of ICS updates for the Atrix 4G and the Photon 4G/Electrify, ironic considering this week’s earlier open letter to Motorola Droid Bionic owners which effectively reiterated previous promises to deliver ICS to that device and asked for more time to deliver the update, while Atrix 4G/Photon 4G owners have yet to receive a valid explanation on why their ICS updates were dropped.
Of course, this is not new behavior for Motorola, and it actually might get worse due to their new rebate program recently enacted where owners of Motorola devices that have not been updated to either ICS or Jelly Bean are entitled to a $100 rebate on their next device, which is nearly worthless on its face due to the increased cost of newer devices compared to the previous generation of Motorola Android smartphones.
In realistic terms, the rebate provides little if any comfort for those affected as the majority of Atrix 4G/Photon 4G/Electrify owners are on still active contracts with no real way out of their now obsolete devices without considerable expense, and that dishonor should be enough to drive many potential customers away from Motorola. If a company cannot be trusted to keep their previous promises, how can they reasonably be expected to keep future commitments?
[…] 4 times Maybe it had more to do with webtop than we think: Dishonor: Motorola Drops Promised ICS Updates from Atrix 4G, Photon 4G and Electrify | PhoneNews.com […]
Many people bought Atrix 4G on February for their promise on update ICS in the future.
But Motorola just using this promise to sell all the Atrix stocks on hand.
After selling all the stock for the first time and find cannot lying anymore.
Motorola just update its schedule silently, saying remain on gingerbread for better experience.
They also provide $100 for trade in, so that you can buy Motorola new smartphone,
which they gain money for another time.
What we can do is just sell my Atrix for more than $100 now and buy a Samsung
Galaxy S3 with promising never buy Motorola product for their dishonest.
No support, lying company, ignore all voice in their forum, facebook, twitter, google+,
etc…
This is very disappointing. I was waiting for ICS before deciding on jumping to Apple. The way Google is running their business is not attractive for me as a consumer so I’m leaving Android as well. An open platform is attractive only when supported.
Motorola have -1 customer now
Unbelievable! Should I root my phone now in order to get an ICS/Jelly bean update?
I made months ago a request to make motorola realise our Atrix’s ICS update, feel freely to sign and get our update!
http://www.change.org/es/peticiones/ics-for-atrix?utm_campaign=share_button_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=25886506
Motorola really dropped the ball on this one. I can’t even begin to describe how infuriated I am. If a Google owned company can’t live up to the Google I/O agreement after committing to it, then what does that say for the future of Google’s Android platform? It wasn’t bad enough that we had to wait for 4 months after ICS was released just for them to commit to the update for Q3. And it wasn’t bad that they strung us along until a week before Q3 was over, consistently telling us that the update was still going to be released. The lousy part was when Punit Soni said the whole process was going to be more transparent, then they put the updates page into full information blackout for a week. THEN they silently cancelled the update late last night hoping we wouldn’t notice.
They should at least unlock the boot loader and release any source code for the hardware so an open source community can take over for all these devices.
Motorola is dishonorable, disgraceful, ignominious, inglorious, opprobrious, shameful,
debasing, degrading, shabby, unprincipled. No more Motorola phones for me, EVER!
Never ever ever ever ever going to get another Motorola phone or suggest it to any of my friends.
I have Atrix 4G and when my contract is up, I am moving to apple. Will never buy a Motorola phone again.
Lets not give up without a fight:
Sign the petiton to google release the update.
http://www.change.org/es/peticiones/ics-for-atrix?utm_campaign=share_button_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=25886506
Another one so nvidia release the drivers so CyanogenMOD team can make a better firmware:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/we-want-ics-drivers-for-nvidia-ventana/
And leave you complains on motorola forum:
https://forums.motorola.com/posts/3367bca459?commentId=666367
What’s up, you Motorola liars??
Don’t you think this is fraudulent to promise and then quietly TURN YOUR PROMISE INTO ONE BIG LIE TO MAKE FOOLS OF THOUSANDS PEOPLES??
This review seems a bit biased. Nevertheless it is disappointing. But I personally think the rebate option is great. Why? Because the atrix can be sold for at least $100 so that’s about 200 dollars back to start a new contract
Motorola sucks.
Chat with Motorola …. 🙁
Zylly (Listening)
Zylly: Hi, my name is Zylly. How may I help you?
neeraj kumar: I heard Atrix 4g is not getting ICS update is that true
Zylly: I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Please know that I will do my best to help you with your concern.
Zylly: Can I please have the imei number?
neeraj kumar ############
Zylly: One moment please.
Zylly: Thank you for holding, my apologies for the delay.
neeraj kumar: No probe
Zylly: There is a user trial ICS update that is currently on going for the Atrix 2. The Atrix 4g will remain on Android 2.3. For more information, please visit https://forums.motorola.com/pages/00add97d6c
Zylly: Would there be anything else?
neeraj kumar: Can I know the reason behind that ?
Zylly: I apologize. We don’t have a specific reason for that. You may check our forum for comments and suggestions of customers.
neeraj kumar: I heard Google is giving 100$ credit to the users who are not greeting
Zylly: What do you mean by that?
neeraj kumar: Getting jelly bean
Zylly: I really apologize. Motorola doesn’t have any information about that. You may contact Google for the right information.
neeraj kumar: Google giving 100$ credit to the customer who are not getting jelly bean by year end is that true ?
Zylly: really apologize. Motorola doesn’t have any information about that.
neeraj kumar: Google and Motorola is the one entity now right ?
Zylly: For more information, please visit https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/ci/documents/detail/2/motorola-jelly-bean-rebate_en-US
Zylly: Would there be anything else?
neeraj kumar: Thanks, my feedback is this was my last phone from Motorola … frustrated Motorola customer 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙁
Zylly: I really apologize, Neeraj.
Zylly: If you need any more information get in touch. Thanks from Motorola, bye!
It is clear, not Motorola’s future Win8 or Apple for me, Pedro (France)
I’m kinda thankful for this actually. It saves me the trouble of having to consider Motorola the next time I’m set to get a new device. Seriously, Motorola is going to catch some flak for this and rightfully so. Shame on Motorola!
New post with official statement from Motorola’s Punit Soni:
https://phone.news/motorola-responds-to-lack-of-ics-updates-on-atrix-4gphoton-4gelectrify-21503/
This does not change my opinion, on the contrary.
Motorola=Google, ANdroid out!! Welcome to Windows phone 8 and Apple IOS.
Motorola sucks and I will never buy any product for myself my family or recomend any of their products to the large corperation I work for!
This Motorola behaved like an irresponsible marginal. I, like thousands of other consumers around the world, bought the Atrix by posting this irresponsible company, which she said, would give a more recent update of Android.
Here in Brazil, we are all disgusted with this company picks damned. I no longer think of buying any product that most remember the brand Google or Motorola. I think I really buy an Iphone 5 that comes from a company that has leaders who are men of character and not kids without word.
Português Brasileiro.
Essa Motorola se comportou com um marginal irresponsável. Eu, assim como milhares de outros consumidores mundo a fora, comprei o Atrix pelo anúncio dessa empresa irresponsável, que segundo ela, daríamos uma atualização mais recente do Android.
Aqui no Brasil, todos nós estamos revoltados com essa empresa de picaretas malditos. Eu já não penso em comprar mais nenhum produto que lembre a marca Google ou Motorola. Acho que realmente comprarei um Iphone 5 que vem de uma empresa que tem dirigentes que são homens de caráter e não moleques sem palavra.
Hate u Motorola!!
Join the http://www.updatemymoto.com/ campaign guys! Let’s grab Motorola’s attention on social networks and blogs!
I will have to agree with DP. I was really planning on keeping our Motorola Photons for at least 2 years and bought (4) Motorola Photons with the anticipation of getting ICS. There was roadmap for it! I understand no one promised… But ICS was already rolling out 10/19/11. I purchased these (4) phones on 12/16/11 with HIGH expectations to receive an update that was ALREADY OUT! A dual core phone, Tegra2 that was running ICS in other devices? Why in the world would ICS not be available!!! Google bought Motorola for goodness sakes!!! Makes ZERO sense to me. If you want users to continue using devices you MUST provide reasonable upgrades to your users. I have been pleased with my Motorola Photons, whole family is enjoying them… But as technology advances there should be at least some kind of peace that I can keep a phone longer than 6-8 months without needing to upgrade my hardware to keep up to date with software releases. I will consider my options MUCH more closely next time, but I cannot say I could have any way possible done more homework!-(