Google Acquires Motorola Mobility

[DivideBYZero]

Since when has Apple made hardware? Last I knew that ended a long time ago? Not sure if Motorola makes hardware either honestly, have to research that.

Serious question: Are you high?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Consumers should hope it's about patents. But if it is, my question is, why not buy just the patents?

I'm still scratching my head on this move.

Because it was cheaper to just buy the whole company?

 

[senseamp]

if moto needed the cash they could have sold them the patents with a perpetual license on them

i'm predicting that google will get into the handset business and samsung, LG and HTC being the worthless knockoff builders that they are will run to microsoft

Google would not have paid this kind of money for a perpetual license. They want ownership of patents to countersue Apple and Microsoft with.

 

[fluffmonster]

This is a purely defensive move...Google was essentially unarmed in the patent war, and now they have something to fight with. The hardware part of motomobile is almost a distraction...its not strong enough to dominate the hardware market, Google doesn't really have the competence in hardware to build it to dominance, and Google probably only swallowed it to get the patents anyway.

For other android manufacturers, this is good news as Google being able to defend Android is as good for them as it is for Google. As long as Apple wages patent aggression, Google and Samsung and HTC all have very similar interests.

This is about Google salvaging their long-run dreams for Android. They spent billions just to keep up their pace.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Aside from the other Android manufacturers it will be interesting to see how this effects the carriers. Google may have just taken away a lot of the carrier's leverage. It's gonna be really interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Lifted]

So I guess we can expect all smart phone manufacturers outside of Apple, Microsoft, Google, and RIM to be history in 6 months.

Do HTC, Samsung, LG, et al. have any chance? Will Microsoft or Google be at all interested in letting other manufacturers use their OS, or will they follow Apple's notion that control of the platform leads to better customer experience?

I'm betting the above 3 will be relegated to the budget "other" phone market in 12 months, if they decide to even bother. All Nokia phones will be branded Microsoft, Motorola phones branded Google.

 

[Red Storm]

So I guess we can expect all smart phone manufacturers outside of Apple, Microsoft, Google, and RIM to be history in 6 months.

Do HTC, Samsung, LG, et al. have any chance? Will Microsoft or Google be at all interested in letting other manufacturers use their OS, or will they follow Apple's notion that control of the platform leads to better customer experience?

I'm betting the above 3 will be relegated to the budget "other" phone market in 12 months, if they decide to even bother. All Nokia phones will be branded Microsoft, Motorola phones branded Google.

Android didn't gain mass marketshare by limiting it self to a single company, I don't see how Google thinks it would be a good idea to cut out all their 3rd party partners. The mass variety of handset options is what boosted Android to the top, it would be dumb to suddenly put an end to that.

 

[Lifted]

Android didn't gain mass marketshare by limiting it self to a single company, I don't see how Google thinks it would be a good idea to cut out all their 3rd party partners. The mass variety of handset options is what boosted Android to the top, it would be dumb to suddenly put an end to that.

No, it gained market share because it was the only competitor to iOS AND it was free.

Do you really think it will loose market share if there are 5 well polished Android phones available from Google rather than 15 mediocre phones available from 5 different manufacturers? I don't.

Do you think HTC, Samsung, and LG aren't shitting their pants right now?

 

[Mopetar]

For other android manufacturers, this is good news as Google being able to defend Android is as good for them as it is for Google. As long as Apple wages patent aggression, Google and Samsung and HTC all have very similar interests.

This is rather neutral for the other manufacturers. They never really cared about Android any more than any other OS they had used. If it allowed them to sell phones, great. Better yet if it doesn't add a lot of cost for them. Otherwise they don't care about it. It also probably won't protect anyone from the Oracle lawsuit so they're not entirely out of the woods yet.

The downside is that now the other manufacturers might start to distrust Google or suspect them of playing favorites. If Motorola phones are the first to get the newest Android builds and early information about new features, the other manufacturers could get angry at Google. After all, they want to sell phones and if they feel Google is playing a constant favorite, it might impact their working relationship.

 

[tommo123]

one of androids main strengths is it's massive number of handsets. want a dual core phone? samsung galaxy s2? no? too big? htc sensation? no? don't like sense? ... on and on and on.

motorolla only android would mean some of us not staying with android as there's no way to have all the bases covered.

 

[jpeyton]

http://www.businessinsider.com/suck-it-applesoft-2011-8

Everyone was baffled when Google made those crazy bids for the Nortel patents last month. Remember? They bid things like the distance from the earth to the sun, the number pi, and some other wacky numbers from mathematics. Which led ultra Apple fanboy MG Siegler to crow that Google had got “pi in the face” and was “living in a dream world” and “look like huge asses in retrospect.” Then MG went on to drool about how Android was doomed, penning a ridiculous piece that compared Apple to James Bond and Google to La Chiffre, the evil villain in “Casino Royale.”

And today it all makes sense. Google just sandbagged its rivals. The whole thing was a rope-a-dope maneuver. Google never cared about the Nortel patents. It just wanted to drive up the price so that AppleSoft (those happy new bedmates) would overpay. Today, with the Motorola deal, Google picks up nearly three times as many patents as AppleSoft got from Novell and Nortel. More important, Google just raised the stakes in a huge way for anyone who wants to stay in the smartphone market.

Better yet, Google got its rivals to spend a few weeks defending the practice of using patents to attack other companies. Apple fanboys bent over backward to say that Apple was doing the honorable thing here by suing everyone in sight. All this slimy patent warfare that is so despicable when others do it becomes magically noble when Apple does it. Teaming up with other companies, including the evil Borg, to gang up on Google is all perfectly legitimate, par for the course, smart business practice, blah blah.

So now Google fires back, makes a huge acquisition, gets into the hardware business, buys up the best IP portfolio in the mobile space — and can position itself as a victim that’s just trying to defend itself against this gang of bullies. The Nortel auction just helps Google get approval for the Motorola purchase. Does anyone really believe this $12.5 billion acquisition just got thrown together in the last few weeks as a response to the AppleSoft patent grabs? Doesn’t it seem likely that Google and Motorola started talking long before the Nortel auction?

As for those crazy bids in the Nortel auction — that was just a way to leave a little “fuck you” in the paperwork for Google’s pals in Redmond and Cupertino to look back upon. That move is pure Larry Page. This is a smart, hyper-competitive guy with a mean streak and a nasty sense of humor. Kara Swisher recently compared him to Bill Gates, and now I see why. Page is turning out to be a better CEO, and more fun to cover, than anyone could have imagined.

I definitely agree with that last bit; Google under Page is a lot more fun to watch than Google under Schmidt.

 

[Pliablemoose]

As far as the patent wars, MS and Apple have cases pending against Moto, this does very little to the patent cases... If they weren't afraid of going after Moto before, how does this change the landscape?

Hmmm... I dunno, am beginning to think this was poorly thought out by Google. Time will tell.

The Oracle case has always had legs, and there are some issues with the GPL now...

 

[Lifted]

one of androids main strengths is it's massive number of handsets. want a dual core phone? samsung galaxy s2? no? too big? htc sensation? no? don't like sense? ... on and on and on.

motorolla only android would mean some of us not staying with android as there's no way to have all the bases covered.

And in one swoop Google resolves the main problem with Android at present - no platform standard. How many app reviews consist of "app doesn't look right with aspect ratio of my phone" or "too slow" or "doesn't run"?

Nobody wants to play the Microsoft game and take all the blame (Vista) because 3rd parties release buggy drivers or software.

 

[JS80]

A brilliant move by Steve Jobs would be to now license iOS to HTC and Samsung. Will never happen though.

 

[jpeyton]

A brilliant move by Steve Jobs would be to now license iOS to HTC and Samsung. Will never happen though.

As much as I despise Apple right now, licensing iOS (or Mac OS) isn't what Apple needs.

Apple doesn't need anything, actually. Their sales are stratospheric and their profits are industry-leading. And they've accomplished that without needing to be the biggest player in terms of market share.

Even as Android growth continues to outpace iOS, Apple can stay on solid footing if it convinces people to buy their "premium" devices (with premium margins).

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

A brilliant move by Steve Jobs would be to now license iOS to HTC and Samsung. Will never happen though.

Why is that a brilliant move?

 

[silverpig]

Consumers should hope it's about patents. But if it is, my question is, why not buy just the patents?

I'm still scratching my head on this move.

What would Motorola Mobility do without any of their patents?

 

[silverpig]

A brilliant move by Steve Jobs would be to now license iOS to HTC and Samsung. Will never happen though.

That would be the single stupidest thing they could do.

 

[sciwizam]

I read that Motorola has about $3 billion in cash. Seeing as Google bid up to $4 billion for the 6000 Nortel patents, they have effectively bought almost 3x the patents (17,000) with about 2x the money. (12-3 = 9 billion)

 

[jpeyton]

I read that Motorola has about $3 billion in cash. Seeing as Google bid up to $4 billion for the 6000 Nortel patents, they have effectively bought almost 3x the patents (17,000) with about 2x the money. (12-3 = 9 billion)

When you factor in all the extras (the hardware side of MMI, the Motorola brand name, the 7000+ patent apps in the pipeline), you realize that this deal is a blockbuster for Google.

 

[Anubis]

A brilliant move by Steve Jobs would be to now license iOS to HTC and Samsung. Will never happen though.

yea its brilliant if you want to kill IOS as fast as you can

 

[JS80]

People will continue to overpay for iPhones, by licensing iOS you stop Android market share growth.

But you guys are probably right...stupid move.

I hope Google is sending a clear message to their hardware partners that this will strengthen their partnership.

 

[jpeyton]

Forgot one more unexpected bonus: access to Motorola's set-top-box business.

A year down the line, we might see Google Cloud integration with your cable box.

 

[JS80]

Forgot one more unexpected bonus: access to Motorola's set-top-box business.

A year down the line, we might see Google Cloud integration with your cable box.

Are you sure set top boxes are part of Motorola Mobility?

Edit: you're right. They could do some epic stuf... http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

People will continue to overpay for iPhones, by licensing iOS you stop Android market share growth.

Apple doesn't care about market share. Well it does care but it doesn't care that it's not #1. If Apple wanted to be #1, they would be releasing variants of the iPhone. Think of it this way, Apple has released 1 iPhone a year. Android is on ~100s of phones a year. I would be hoping that there are more Android phones than iPhones.