Motorola president Rick Osterloh has responded after Apple designer Jony Ive criticized his company’s plans to allow people to build their own phones. Apple lead designer Ive took aim at the Moto Maker scheme which is to give customers significant choice over how their handsets appeared.
Osterloh said that his company has a “different philosophy” to Apple and branded Apple’s prices “outrageous”. Ive had asked New Yorker magazine not to reveal who he was talking about but it’s thought that he was referring to Apple and their scheme.
Ive said: “Their value proposition was, ‘Make it whatever you want. You can choose whatever color you want, and I believe that’s abdicating your responsibility as a designer.”
Moto Maker offers consumers “thousands of ways” to customize their Moto X handsets. Shoppers can choose from a variety of colors, metals, leathers and finishes. Mr Osterloh said “Our belief is that the end user should be directly involved in the process of designing products. We’re making the entire product line accessible. And frankly, we’re taking a directly opposite approach to them [Apple].”
Osterloh said that, unlike Apple, he believed in “accessible prices” whilst offering “similar experiences”, adding that a “great mobile experience” shouldn’t need to be “an expensive luxury”.