Taking apart Motorola's Q smartphone...literally

By John Cox, NetworkWorld.com, 07/21/06

The market researchers at iSuppli dismantled Moto's hot Q phone to assess what's inside.

Motorola unveiled the phone in May. It runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, has still and video camera features and a stereo MP3 music player. It's a dual-band CDMA EV-DO device and is currently offered by Verizon Wireless.

The CPU is an Intel Xscale processor, the same product line that Intel recently announced it would be selling off to Marvell Technology Group. Voice communications are based on chipsets from Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. The memory subsystem on multi-chip components from Intel and M Systems Flask Disk Pioneers.

The most detailed breakdown of the breakdown is by "EE Times." According to the story, "The total value of all Q's components amounts to $150, according to iSuppli, which estimated that the phone carries an additional $8 in manufacturing costs per unit. This total of $158 excludes outlays beyond the production of the Q, including shipping, logistics, marketing and other channel expenditures, iSuppli noted. "

"BusinessWeek" gives more of a competitive spin to the story, putting Motorola's aggressive cost-cutting and pricing in the context of battling Research in Motion and Palm for the hearts, minds, and dollars of wireless emailers, many of them business users.

"If it's anywhere near as successful as the RAZR and SLVR phones that preceded it, the Q will probably help Motorola put price pressure on RIM and Palm and could force RIM to add features it has previously eschewed," according to "BusinessWeek."

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