MOTO Development Group
Encyclopedia
MOTO Development Group is a product design
and technology development company with headquarters in San Francisco and an office in Hong Kong
. It offers complete product development consulting
, with services in business strategy, user experience
, electrical engineering
, mechanical engineering
, software engineering
, firmware engineering
, vendor sourcing
and manufacturing
oversight in Asia. It also offers industrial design
through a partner network.
MOTO was founded in 1991 by current CEO Gregor Berkowitz and current president J. Daniell Hebert. It is privately held.
Cisco Systems
announced the acquisition of the company in 2010.
, and Microsoft
, as well as startups like Pure Digital
, Contour, and litl
. As with many consulting companies in product development, much of its work is done under confidentiality agreements
and can't be disclosed. Some recent public projects include Microsoft's Zune HD
, the ContourHD, and the Livescribe Pulse
.
One series of articles features multi-touch displays
, including a side-by-side analysis comparing the resolution and accuracy of four competing touchscreen devices, including the Apple iPhone and the Nexus One
. To address the "inconsistencies" in their first tests due to using human fingers, they recreated the tests using a robotic finger and expanded the group to include phones from six manufacturers, including Palm
and BlackBerry
.
Another series explored an interactive blackjack
table.
, and multi-touch
-capable touchscreens.
Product design
-Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...
and technology development company with headquarters in San Francisco and an office in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. It offers complete product development consulting
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
, with services in business strategy, user experience
User experience
User experience is the way a person feels about using a product, system or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such...
, electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
, mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
, software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
, firmware engineering
Embedded system
An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...
, vendor sourcing
Global sourcing
Global sourcing is a term used to describe practice of sourcing from the global market for goods and services across geopolitical boundaries. Global sourcing often aims to exploit global efficiencies in the delivery of a product or service...
and manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
oversight in Asia. It also offers industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
through a partner network.
MOTO was founded in 1991 by current CEO Gregor Berkowitz and current president J. Daniell Hebert. It is privately held.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
announced the acquisition of the company in 2010.
Past Projects
The firm has contributed to the development of products for many Fortune 500 companies, including Apple Inc., Intel, LogitechLogitech
Logitech International S.A. is a global provider of personal peripherals for computers and other digital platforms headquartered in Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland. The company develops and markets products like peripheral devices for PCs, including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers...
, and Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, as well as startups like Pure Digital
Pure Digital
PURE is a British consumer electronics company, based in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, founded in 2002. Pure is a division of another Hertfordshire-based company, Imagination Technologies, which primarily builds processors and graphics chips....
, Contour, and litl
Litl
The litl webbook is a webbook developed, marketed and sold by litl LLC. It features the ability to stand upright in an inverted-V position and a cloud-based operating system called litl OS...
. As with many consulting companies in product development, much of its work is done under confidentiality agreements
Non-disclosure agreement
A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement , confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties...
and can't be disclosed. Some recent public projects include Microsoft's Zune HD
Zune HD
The Zune HD is a portable media player in the Zune product family released on September 15, 2009 by Microsoft. It is a direct competitor with the Apple iPod and iPhone series of mobile devices. It was initially released in 16 and 32 GB capacities. A 64 GB version was released on April 9, 2010...
, the ContourHD, and the Livescribe Pulse
Livescribe
The Livescribe paper-based computing platform consists of a digital pen, digital paper, software applications, and developer tools.Central to the Livescribe platform is the smartpen, a ballpoint pen with an embedded computer and digital audio recorder...
.
MOTO Labs
In 2007, MOTO launched a website called MOTO Labs, "dedicated to sharing tools and technologies we have developed in our product development consulting practice," that includes links to founder Gregor Berkowitz's monthly column on CNET, and engineering-focused articles and videos.One series of articles features multi-touch displays
Multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
, including a side-by-side analysis comparing the resolution and accuracy of four competing touchscreen devices, including the Apple iPhone and the Nexus One
Nexus One
The Nexus One was Google's flagship smartphone manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corporation. It became available on January 5, 2010 and uses the Android open source mobile operating system...
. To address the "inconsistencies" in their first tests due to using human fingers, they recreated the tests using a robotic finger and expanded the group to include phones from six manufacturers, including Palm
Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., was a smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that was responsible for products such as the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the PalmPilot, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older...
and BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
.
Another series explored an interactive blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
table.
Android Media Platform
In 2007, MOTO introduced the Android Media Platform as a family of reference designs that offer a ready-made development platform with an OLED display, OMAP processorsOMAP
OMAP developed by Texas Instruments is a category of proprietary system on chips for portable and mobile multimedia applications. OMAP devices generally include a general-purpose ARM architecture processor core plus one or more specialized co-processors...
, and multi-touch
Multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
-capable touchscreens.
See also
- Business strategy
- Design managementDesign managementDesign Management is a business discipline that uses project management, design, strategy, and supply chain techniques to control a creative process, support a culture of creativity, and build a structure and organisation for design...
- Electrical engineeringElectrical engineeringElectrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
- Firmware engineeringEmbedded systemAn embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...
- Vendor sourcingGlobal sourcingGlobal sourcing is a term used to describe practice of sourcing from the global market for goods and services across geopolitical boundaries. Global sourcing often aims to exploit global efficiencies in the delivery of a product or service...
- InnovationInnovationInnovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
- Industrial designIndustrial designIndustrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
- Interaction designInteraction designIn design, human–computer interaction, and software development, interaction design, often abbreviated IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Like many other design fields interaction design also has an interest in form but its main...
- Mechanical engineeringMechanical engineeringMechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
- Software engineeringSoftware engineeringSoftware Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
- User experienceUser experienceUser experience is the way a person feels about using a product, system or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such...