Google Motorola Moto X Phone Only Available In America, But Lower Price And International Version On The Way

Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside said in May that the Moto X would be more “widely available” than the new family of Droids. It seems as though he was referring strictly to carriers (the Droid Ultra and Maxx will be exclusively offered through Verizon Wireless), since the Moto X will only be available for purchase in the U.S. and Canada.

The Moto X has created buzz for being the first true collaboration between Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Motorola, and has sustained some of that buzz for having a few qualities that differentiate it from competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5.

The Moto X will be the only smartphone on the market assembled in the U.S., at a new Motorola factory in Forth Worth, Tex. The Moto X will eventually be customizable for AT&T subscribers via the Moto Maker website, which Verizon said will come to its customers before the year's end. The Moto X also offers an option for always-on voice controls, with the phrase “OK, Google Now” readying the phone to set an alarm or record a note without a swipe or touch.

The Moto X will run a dual-core processor in addition to the Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System, while competitors like the Nexus 4 and Samsung Galaxy S4 have a quad-core main CPU. Despite the fact that the Moto X lacks the most powerful hardware specifications on the market, these new features have ignited international interest. Bloomberg Tech is running an opinion piece by Mark Milian about that backlash, implying the phone will only be coming to the U.S. However, those who have followed Moto X in the past couple of months know that the phone will be available in Canada in the fall:

While Milian’s piece fails to mention the pending Moto X release date for Canada, he does hit a nerve with Motorola’s newest release: Since Google’s Android operating system is found on smartphones throughout the world, many international smartphone consumers are aware the hype surrounding the Moto X. Following its announcement, potential buyers in the U.K. and Asia are now left to wonder why they were not invited to the Moto X party.

A visit to Motorola’s U.K. and Chinese websites show a similar message, in the same saturated color style of the Moto X advertisements: “something is coming.”

“Moto X is just the first device in a new portfolio of products that show the best of Motorola as a Google company," Kevin Si, Motorola’s spokesperson for Asia Pacific, told Pocket-Lint. "We have exciting plans for all regions, although we can’t reveal specifics right now.”

While the Moto X itself will not be available to consumers in the U.K. and Asia, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside has said that there is a less expensive version of the Moto X that will see a release for international markets and prepaid carriers in the U.S. Some consumers and websites have balked at the price of the Moto X, which requires a two-year contract discount as well as $199 for a 16GB model and $249 for a 32GB model. Some tech sites expected a lower priced Moto X, since the device does not have the most powerful specs among flagship smartphones.

Woodside did not announce a release date or say what features will be available in the cheaper Moto X, but told CNET that consumers “will see additional products within months."

Follow Thomas Halleck on Twitter