Motoblur dies again, in name at least

Vlad Bobleanta  By on 10 Jun 11

Here we go again. Remember Motoblur, Motorola’s oddly-named Android UI overlay? Akin to HTC’s Sense UI, Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, and the likes? Come on, you have to have heard of it. After all, everybody loves Motoblur.

Actually, Motorola has found out that pretty much no one even likes it. I kid you not, many, many months after first saying that it’s going to basically phase out the name Motoblur, while keeping most of its actual features intact, Motorola has decided to basically phase out the name Motoblur, while keeping most of its actual features intact. And if that seemed copied and pasted to you, Motorola’s words seem copied and pasted to me. Over the months.

Ten months ago, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said that they had “decided that we will focus on the value proposition of products and not MOTOBLUR as a brand name in its own right”.

Fast forward to today, while not forgetting that in these ten months there have been many Moto device launches where Motoblur was touted as one of the features. A Motorola spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the company is moving away from the name Motoblur, in a decision which was partly influenced by public feedback.

In other words, Moto is saying okay, okay, we know you hate Motoblur. So there, we’re not going to be calling it that anymore. Happy now?!

I don’t know about you, but I really don’t think that those who complained to Moto about Motoblur were complaining about the brand itself (although, in fairness, it is a dumb brand). So I really don’t get why Moto thinks it can get away with simply phasing out the brand, and not what it stands for.

So here’s what will basically happen. Motorola will continue to add software bits and pieces to its Android devices, bits and pieces that it will no longer call “Motoblur” as a whole. Those bits and pieces will probably turn out to be just as useful, reliable, and bug-free as Motoblur has always been. And they will also help you get faster Android OS updates exactly as much as Motoblur did.

Nice one, Moto.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_K3MVOVHEK4AZY777NI5KWHGL5U David Jenkins

    I’m hoping some company comes along and sells only vanilla (Nexus) devices. And then customers will gravitate to that company while all these crapware/bloatware manufacturers go out of business.

  • Sp4sm

    I know it’s easy… Hell, even fashionable to hate on MotoBlur, but to write such a cynical aritcle without doing any kind of investigating to see if Motorola is actually making headway, is just… Too easy.
    Moto’s version of Gingerbread (at least on Droid X) is quite simply, awesome.  They’ve removed all the bloat, is incredibly lightweight, and faster than hell.  The DX is finally the phone it should have always been. If this implementation of “GingerBlur” is any indication of a shift in philosophy over at M, we should probably be a lot less cynical, and maybe even enthusiastic!

  • Bweisholtz

    I’ve used the latest version of motoblur. It is completely useless and ugly.
    All the integration has alsready been built into gingerbread organically. Motoblur just takes something that is near perfect and makes it ugly and slower.

  • Deltanick

    Why would ANYONE use the word “blur” in a product name. I find NOTHING positive, in any way, shape, or form, with the word “blur.” Doesn’t your vision become “blurry” when you get cataracts, when you get hosed with water, or when you try to see without your glasses?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_K3MVOVHEK4AZY777NI5KWHGL5U David Jenkins

    Looks like that company exists! Virgin Mobile offers Vanilla android on all phones!

  • Yellowskin1

    Stop with all the crap and give us pure google phone

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