The long-rumored Moto M was released today on Motorola's Chinese site, with no indication of a North American release. Now Lenovo has announced that all future smartphones developed by the company will be branded as 'Moto' phones.

The announcement comes as part of a larger shift in leadership at Lenovo, with the company hoping to improve smartphone sales in mainland China. Gina Qiao, formally SVP of human resources, is now SVP of Lenovo's Mobile Business Group. She previously worked in marketing and strategy in the company.

As you can probably guess, this has the unfortunate effect of diluting the Motorola brand with phones designed and manufactured by Lenovo. Instead of the cohesive X, G, and E devices that made picking a phone from Motorola so easy, the Moto M is likely the first of many slightly-different lineups. Perhaps Motorola will be reduced to just a brand name sooner, rather than later.

Source: Campaign