Motorola means business with its new phone – literally

During 2022, Motorola launched one of the surprise best phones of the year in the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra. Now we're into 2023, Motorola is using CES 2023 as the surprise launch platform for its surprise new phone. 

And it means business – literally. Because the new device is called the ThinkPhone by Motorola. Which, if you're familiar with the ThinkPad and ThinkBook business laptop and laptop ranges, will certainly ring a bell: as this is a business phone through and through.

Now I wouldn't usually write about straight-up business kit here on T3, but there's something about the ThinkPhone that's caught my attention. Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of ThinkPad (that's why there's an iconic 'Red Key' on the side of the device), 2023 is clearly the logical year for Motorola to launch this new angle of attack. 

That said, however, it's one hell of a market to try and break. Many large businesses are already aligned with iPhone from a security perspective, and I know many colleagues at big firms in London (my specific geographical example) are banned from using specific brands.

So how is Motorola hoping to win the hearts (well, contracts) of big business? It's leveraging ThinkPad's already well-known security, ThinkShield, as part of the package. Furthermore there are four years of security updates for Android promised to ensure it remains up to date. 

The most interesting part for me, however, is Motorola's use of its ReadyFor system to integrate phone and laptop crossover: if you're using a Windows PC (in particular ThinkPad, but of course) then you can drag and drop any Android app for a connected phone and it'll show on your PC's screen. You can even take calls and messages with the integration.

So can ThinkPhone be a success? That'll be down to the big businesses already running ThinkPad contracts, I suspect, and whether they're ready to be convinced to overhaul their current staff phone setups. It's not the 50MP camera, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, or 120Hz screen that's going to sell the ThinkPhone on its own merit, after all...