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Motorola has been in the news lately due to manufacturing Google’s Nexus 6, and now they are also in headlines for the apparent parting of the ways with the headphones and speakers manufacturer, Sol Republic. According to 9to5Google’s sources that include ‘people familiar with the arrangement’, the partnership that began in August 2013 will soon be dissolved.
The Motorola and Sol Republic joint venture included products such as the Tracks Air headphones, the Jax in-ear headphones as well as the Deck Wireless Speaker. Originally the affiliation began with the aim of “changing the way music fans experience and share music customization, innovation and cutting-edge technology.” It would appear that this aim hasn’t been realised quite to the extent that Motorola would have wished. Of course, it could just be that since the transition from being a Google owned company to becoming one of Lenovo’s latest acquisitions has simply triggered a re-evaluation of how and where Motorola’s resources are allocated. It’s only speculation, but Lenovo is a shrewd company and they won’t stand for the type of losses that Motorola suffered that Google did. Perhaps, Lenovo has a preferential Audio equipment maker of their own lined up further down the line, who knows? The dissolution of the affiliation would suggest that the headphones and speakers aren’t exactly flying off the shelves though. It could also be that the acquisition of Dr Dre’s Beats for a cool 3 Billion Dollars has had some amount of influence over the alleged break-up.
After the announcement of their latest batch of Moto G and Moto X handsets, Motorola appears to be continuing their upward trend, and maybe this is just a streamlining of their resources. I’m sure we’ll hear more on this story in the coming days. With the news that Bose have been kicked out of Apple’s stores thanks to the latter’s acquisition of Beats, it would seem that there are some interesting times ahead for audio equipment makers. If you have any thoughts about the alleged dissolution of the Motorola/Sol Republic affiliation, feel free to let tell us about them in the comments below or at our Google Plus page.