Motorola's in ownership limbo at the moment, as Google has essentially sold the smartphone-maker to Chinese company Lenovo, but the deal is yet to be fully executed. Motorola President Rick Osterloh told the WSJ "the decision to close the plant was independent of the planned sale," which isn't hard to believe given Lenovo is one of the champions of stateside manufacturing. It has a PC plant in North Carolina, and like Motorola, believes there's a competitive edge in being close to your customers and able to customize and ship computers quicker. Perhaps, then, there's scope for Motorola to return to the US under Lenovo's leadership. The Moto X will continue to be made elsewhere, and with Moto Maker being one of the main attractions of the handset, we imagine this'll still be available on the next edition of the X due this summer, even if it takes much longer to ship.

Beyond what it means for Motorola as a company, the fact it's had to pull the plug on its US plant after such a short time raises much bigger questions about the viability of manufacturing electronics in the US. Last year, the company convinced us it was going to make it work, so how long before others begin changing their tune as well?