[Cowen]

This sounds like a great offering for an unlocked smartphone. I'm personally in the market for a cheap, unlocked smartphone, and if this is as good as the reviews sound, I'll probably buy one straight away.

But I think the real test for this phone's market share will be the subsidized price that carriers offer it at, which would have to be substantially lower than current subsidized flagship smartphones. I don't think most smartphone consumers value unlocked phones enough that they would pay a similar amount for one as they would pay for a subsidized iPhone 5S. A subsidized 5C would still be even cheaper than the unlocked Moto G.

A subsidized $50 Moto G vs. a subsidized $100 iPhone 5C though? I could definitely see that taking off.

[redidas]

With such a low unlocked price, I wouldn't be surprised if this hits a subsidized price of $0.

[homersapien]

At $0 subsidized you would be getting ripped off. You'd be better off buying a subsidized iPhone, selling it, then buying the G at full price (plus pocketing a bunch of $$ at the same time).

[hackula1]

I would bet cash flow is more important to which phone someone buys than absolute value.

[tesseractive]

Sure, but there's so much differential that it would make sense to buy a 5S on a contract using a payday loan, put it on eBay, and then use the proceeds to pay off the expensive loan, buy the Moto G, and go buy a bunch of groceries for your family with the difference.

The Moto G would be a straight-up ripoff on a traditional contract. I expect it to be a hit in the prepaid market, however.