Google has said that future Motorola smartphones will predominately focus on battery life and durability.
After the search engine giant announced record revenue for 2012, it confirmed that subsidiary Motorola has continued to lose money for its parent company; it lost $152 million during 2012's Q4.
Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page said it's working closely with the manufacturer to resolve two issues for its smartphones in the form of battery life and durability. "Battery life is a huge issue. You shouldn't have to worry about constantly recharging your phone. When you drop your phone, it shouldn't go splat. Everything should be a ton faster and easier. There’s real potential to invent new and better experiences."
Both Google and Motorola are rumored to be working on the X smartphone, a 5-inch device with Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie that's allegedly scheduled to be announced during Google I/O.
The earnings call also stressed that Google doesn't expect immediate returns from its products. "The number of search queries that we receive that are geographically related is very high, and we generate quite a bit of money from our web search business. But we’re in the early stages of monetizing Maps directly in the Maps product."
As for its rivalry with Apple, Page stated that Google is focusing on perfecting products over long periods of time until no other vendor can replicate them with ease, referring to how "long-term investment in Maps has paid off". Its maps service has been in development for a decade.
When discussing the situation regarding the continued absence of adequate Nexus 4 inventory, Page stated: "clearly there’s work to be done managing our supply better, and that is priority to our teams."