Motorola cell phone lovers have expressed concern over the shutdown of all Motorola mobile phone shops in the country.
Obiosa Odigie, a
consumer said, “I went to a Motorola shop at The Palms to buy a
Motorola RAZR phone for my sister last year, only to find out that the
shop has been shut down and was occupied by another business and I was
advised to go to their shop at the City Mall. But I discovered that
they had shut it down also.”
Motorola could not
be reached for official comments, but a source at the former City Mall
sales shop, who asked to remain anonymous, hinted that Motorola had
experienced a downturn as a result of the global economic recession.
“In a letter from
Motorola, we were informed that our services were no longer needed due
to the ongoing reorganisation in the company and in the light of the
recent global recession,” said the source.
Liquidation
Fred Adewale, a
mobile phone dealer at the Computer Village, Ikeja said, “Motorola
phones are liquidated in the market, people no longer come to buy
Motorola phones here. Last year, the sale of Motorola phones in my shop
was very poor, that was why I stopped selling. People only ask for the
major phones in the market, like Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson,
amongst others. But if you really want a Motorola phone, you can get a
second-hand one on the street,” said Mr. Adewale.
i-Cell Integrated
Service, one of Motorola’s partners in Nigeria, explained that its
relationship with Motorola is based on after-sales service agreement,
and not on sales or promotion.
“We have nothing to
do with the sales and promotions of our partner’s brand, as far as
sales issue are concerned. We deal only with the after-service issue
for consumers, as they bring in complaints about their mobile phones,”
Jari Ollila, the Service Director of i-Cell said.
“I do not have much knowledge about their market, as that would be for Motorola to talk about,” he added.
Shared information
In an email,
Mahmoud Sayedahmed; Head of Marketing, Middle East and Africa Motorola
Mobile Devices, said, “Let me try and address your questions in line
with the information that the corporation shares publicly with the
market, noting that Motorola does not comment on any specific market
information or financial figures. Being a publicly traded company, our
corporate results can be found on our Motorola website.
“With regards to
the Nigerian market, Motorola mobile devices have launched two devices
(WX160 and WX180) that are part of a range of six devices that were
introduced in several emerging markets around the globe in late 2009.”
Mr. Sayedahmed explained that the firm only sells its mobile devices through distribution channels in Nigeria.
“The WX series were
introduced in the market through a Motorola distribution partner that
provides national coverage for phone distribution and a 12-month
warranty service for Motorola devices. Nigeria is a key market in
Africa and we continue to have Motorola devices sold in this market
through our distribution partner across all the major cities in
Nigeria,” said Mr. Sayedahmed.
Regulator has no explanations
The Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) could not offer any explanation on the
exit of Motorola from the country, saying that its responsibility is
limited to ensuring that the company sold standard phones to users.
“NCC only gives out
type approval to mobile phones providers as all mobile phones must meet
the international standard of phones. All mobile phones must be type
approve, which is basic and some of the providers can have dealers who
sell their products within the country, said Reuben Muoka, the
spokesperson of the Commission.
“These providers
are vendors to telecom operators in the country too. The commission
does not regulate the sales of mobile phones in the country,” he added.
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