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Motorola Moto Maker on the cards for SA?

Barcelona - The world's biggest computer maker Lenovo has said that if its re-launch of Motorola smartphones in South Africa is successful during 2015, it could further launch its customisation service Moto Maker in the country as well.

In January, Lenovo announced in Johannesburg that it plans to re-launch Motorola smartphones in South Africa in 2015.

The move came after the Chinese computer maker bought Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.91bn in 2014. One of the last high profile Motorola smartphones to be launched in SA was that of the Razr Maxx in 2012.

And at the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain; Lenovo representatives on Monday revealed that they plan to put in place a phased launch for Motorola phones in markets such as South Africa.

The representatives did not reveal what type of Motorola devices Lenovo could re-launch in SA. Smartphones that exist in Motorola's range currently include the likes of the Moto X and Moto G.

But they did hint that Motorola's customisation service, Moto Maker, could be part of a phased launch, if the phones prove popular in South Africa. Moto Maker, which was first available in the US, allows customers to customise the likes of back cover colours of their phones.

"Certainly from my experience, where we've seen our success is by building our foundations really strong," Marcus Frost, the EMEA Senior Marketing Director for Motorola Mobility, responded to Fin24 when asked for more detail on the SA launch and whether or not Moto Maker is coming to SA.

Frost explained that Lenovo has rolled out Moto Maker in markets such as Germany and the UK in phased approaches.

"So, we're building the business back up from the ground. We're not trying to run before we can walk," Frost told Fin24.

Frost further explained that in India, Motorola had to make sure that infrastructure such as service centres were in place before moving on to further stages in that country.

"We need to go through all of that and make sure that South Africa is going to be well-served, the service centres are ready to go, that the product is absolutely bang on for the consumers there and then also that Moto Maker will resonate.

"So, we're in that process of doing our market research just now and then we'll make that decision.

"I don't want to prejudge the outcome of that research but we're into that and we're going through that process right now," said Frost.

Marcus also didn't reveal details about when exactly Motorola phones would come to SA in 2015.

Fin24 is hosted by Lenovo at the Mobile World Congress 2015.

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