X

Moto X not on agenda for upcoming Google event, says source

A popular podcaster claims to have received a personal invite to an exclusive event from Motorola's Guy Kawasaki.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
  • Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Eric Mack
2 min read
See any hidden messages here? Motorola

Despite speculation that Google could be planning to reveal the Moto X at a special media event next week, a source tells CNET that the Motorola event is actually about something else besides the company's first big Android release as a Google company.

Podcaster and veteran personality of the tech world Leo Laporte said this week on his "This Week in Google" show that he had received a personal invitation from Motorola's Guy Kawasaki to just such an event. Laporte speculated that it had something to do with the Moto X:

He said we'd really like you to come down to the Google campus for an event -- small group of journalists, 50 people, two groups; July 10th and July 11th... I'm thinking it's the phone.

More, er, conspiratorially minded Google watchers also noted that the full-page ad Motorola ran on July 3 to promote the phone featured two people jumping off a dock in positions that roughly resemble an "X" and "I" -- also the roman numerals for 11, potentially a subliminal tip toward July 11?

I'm not sure what the point would be of using diving techniques to hint at a release date, but it does make sense to have such an event in the week following the official kickoff of the Moto X promotional campaign. However, we're told by a source that Motorola has something else to share with journalists. No more details are yet forthcoming.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the Moto X will be highly customizable, with users able to select features like color covers and engravings for the new Android phone, which Google says will be assembled in the United States, apparently at a facility in Fort Worth, Texas.

What do you think? Did you see any other hidden messages in the Moto X ad? And if that's not what Motorola has on its agenda for next week, what else could it be?

Updated at 12:35 p.m. PT to add information from sources claiming that the Motorola event is not about the Moto X.