Verizon Stores May Refuse Moto X Pure Edition

In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with the flagship killer Moto announced earlier this year. The Moto X Pure Edition 2015 started shipping recently and this flagship phone comes with some pretty nice hardware and a near stock Android experience in the software department. Better yet, it was marketed as being compatible with all networks and sold directly to consumers. In a very Sprint-like move, Verizon, however, doesn’t seem to be quite with the program. According to an article from Prepaid Phone News and a pretty long Reddit thread, several customers are reporting that Verizon stores are refusing to activate the Moto X Pure Edition 2015 because the IMEI is not showing up in the Verizon database. Some customers have had success by activating a Verizon SIMs in other phones and swapping them to the Moto X. While it looks like this workaround is working for some people, others have reported they were told that switching plans and numbers would be complicated because the devices are not Verizon phones. For a phone that was marketed to consumers with the promise of being able to use it on any network, this is a little disappointing. Of course, it’s likely a case of miscommunication and bad training on the part of Verizon employees. Should the IMEI problem persist, however, it will have some pretty negative impacts on the prepaid market as Verizon MVNOs like Page Plus, Selectel or Tracfone will not be able to activate any devices not found in Verizon’s database. Unlocked devices are the best if you’re on a prepaid plan, but for companies like Motorola to be successful in marketing nice phones like the Moto X directly to consumers, all of the phone companies need to be ready to handle it. This is obviously  more of a postpaid than prepaid problem, as I think most MVNOs are a little more accustomed to customers activating their own devices. Here’s to hoping Verizon gets its act together soon.]]>