^ Do you know ANYONE who doesn't live in Egypt that currently doesn't have internet in their home AND can afford to buy a smartphone and a proprietary netbook shell, to boot? Come on...
Dude you're really clueless. The Atrix 4G is just the beginning, wait a year from one, every cell phone will try to beat that. A phone that can become a netbook and a Apple TV like device is really something ground breaking. This thing is probably the first real innovation since the first iPhone was released in 2007. Airplay is not even on the same neighborhood.
Some of you knocking this thing right now will be drooling in a year or two from now, when Apple finally announces the iPhone 6 or whatever which is able to be docked into a MBA like shell, stating "woooow... Apple is really innovating this time". I like my iPhone 4 more than any Android I have seen so far, but lets face, this phone is really cool, at least in concept. You need to very blinded by your Apple fanboyism to not see that.
None of us have said it isn't a cool concept. We've said it's a stupid idea for a real consumer product. It's not an Apple vs. Android issue at all.
All of these proprietary docks and plugs and shells will ONLY work for Motorola devices (assuming they even support this idea with their next device). Are you planning to lock yourself into the Motorola product pipeline indefinitely? I thought the point of Android was choice? How much will all of these docks and accessories cost - would you use them enough to warrant paying hundreds of dollars for them? Is it actually compelling enough to draw people away from HTC, Samsung, and other device manufacturers, given those higher costs? Think about it.
You plug your phone into a netbook shell and get a half-baked OS experience. Awesome! But in the few rare cases where you need a computer to get something done you'd already have a computer with you. Until smartphones can reproduce desktop class OS functionality this idea is a flop. Do you really need a netbook shell to order a pizza while texting your friends? Would you pay $100 for a netbook shell that you might only use on an airplane? This isn't going to replace a real computer, it's a niche product at best.
You dock your phone into your TV and then use YET ANOTHER IR blaster to control your slideshow? Why not just stream the content to your current set-top box and use your phone to control the slideshow? The smart idea would have been to integrate Android into your current devices - your 360, your PS3, your Apple TV, your Boxee, whatever. Building yet another proprietary IR box/dock is a stupid idea because no one wants another remote control to deal with - and one that only works for the lifetime of your Motorola device.
These are all real shortcomings. While I agree with you that this is a great example of technology integration, I don't see this moving past the tech demo. Just like Microsoft's coffee table touch screen slabs, this idea doesn't have a viable go-to-market strategy. Motorola is just firing into the dark trying to hit something; to my mind they've missed by more than a few yards.
