Surprise! The $179 Moto G hits the US early

Motorola Mobility apparently couldn’t wait for its low-cost Moto G to hit the States.

The Moto G went on sale in the US on Tuesday, available only in the GSM variant and unlocked on Motorola.com for $179 without a contract.

The surprise launch comes well ahead of the company’s previously planned target of getting the Moto G out in the US by January. Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside told CNET that early demand for the phone has been strong overseas. The company was able to ramp up the manufacturing process faster than anticipated, and it was able to get the Web site up faster, allowing for the early release of the phone. By launching now, Motorola also takes advantage of the holiday shopping season.

That doesn’t take away from its plans for the first quarter. Motorola’s carrier and retail partners will launch the Moto G in January, just in time to take advantage of the traditionally strong prepaid market early in the year. While Verizon Wireless has committed to selling the Moto G for its prepaid brand, Woodside said the LTE-less phone would get “broad distribution” with multiple partners. (He declined to name names.)

“We were always gearing up for a big first quarter, but we think we’ll have success this quarter as well,” Woodside said.
Moto G is the low-cost brother to the more ambitious Moto X, which is primarily sold in the US and stands out because customers can tweak how the device looks with different colors and accents.