Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

[Kreij]

Here's an interesting take on this ...

A very interesting move by Google this morning, buying handset hardware maker Motorola for $12.5 billion.

But let's be real: This deal could end up being a disaster.

How?

Well, let's have a look at the host of questions and challenges the deal raises, starting with this one:

How do HTC and Samsung, two of the leading Android-based smartphone makers, think about the fact that their "partner" Google is now competing directly with them for hardware sales?

And we mean, how do they really feel, internally, not "what are they saying in public?" (The quotes Google has assembled from HTC, LG, et al, all appear to have been written by the same PR person--note the similarity in the language.)

The only reason Android (and Google) have any share of the mobile game, after all, is because hardware makers like HTC and Samsung adopted Google's software platform. And now Google is stabbing them in the back.

By now, it's probably too late for Samsung and HTC to switch to another platform, so they'll have to smile and make the best of it. But still... having your software "partner" suddenly fire a missile down your throat can't feel too good.

And if Google-owned Motorola starts to gain share in the hardware business, the feeling (and tension) will only get worse.

Second, is this an acknowledgment that, in smartphones, Apple's integrated hardware-software solution is superior to the PC model of a common software platform crossing all hardware providers?

It certainly appears to be.

Android's biggest weakness thus far has been its fragmentation: The combination of many different versions, plus many different customizations by different hardware providers, has rendered it a common platform in name only. To gain the full power of "ubiquity"--the strategy that Microsoft used to clobber Apple and everyone else in the PC era--Google needs to unify Android. And perhaps owning a hardware company is the only way to do that.

Third, how is Microsoft feeling? Is this a great deal for them...or confirmation that they're screwed?

So Google investors are smart to be worried.

Yes, there's a chance that Google could pull off a miracle here and transform the Motorola Mobility business into a direct competitor of Apple's--in which Google gets not only Android distribution, but super-fat iPhone-like profit margins to boot.

But doing that will be super-challenging. Motorola's current hardware team has displayed none of the magic that Apple's has. And the more Google tries to mimic that magic, the more Google's other Android partners will likely rebel against Google's competitive threat.

Far more likely, Google will just continue Motorola's mediocre also-ran status in the handset business, thus adding a big, crappy commodity hardware business to its glorious monopoly software business in search. And that won't make investors happy.

Bottom line, a bold move by Google. But one that raises a lot more questions and challenges than answers.

 

[micropage7]

yep, and with motorola google has bigger chance to boost android better than before
about samsung and the other i guess its like racing they have factory team and sattelite team
google has taken motorola as factory team the other would follow as satelite team

 

[dir_d]

Google said Motorola should remain a separate entity. I really think they bought them to fight Apple in the patent war. Motorola has some very nice patents and i dont think this will effect HTC or Samsung in anyway. This might actually improve android for HTC and Samsung because of the patents google has now acquired.

 

[bucketface]

Seems like Motorola is looking to concentrate on it's industrial business.

Here's an interesting take on this ...
Quote:
A very interesting move by Google this morning.... big quote

while things could go that way it is probably more profitable for google to keep HTC, samsung, etc in the game. How much does google actually make off of each of these comapies handsets?
Ideally Google will be releasing a Handset ala the Nexus series and force the other companies to provide a certain standard for their products. eg. more frequent updates.. longer support for updates, minimum level of hardware specs etc. by providing a specific quality for their Motorola products.
Another big reason for this buy is lots of patents. now they have a better position to settle the patent litigations out of court.

 

[1c3d0g]

Guys, remember that Motorola also produces set-top boxes for many Cable companies...do I see a Google TV link in there somewhere? Also, if many of the other cellphone manufacturers object, Google *could* quietly shut down the hardware cellphone division of Motorola and keep the rest of the company humming along nicely. And they now have a HUGE patent war chest to defend themselves against any miserable company trying to sue them.

I love Google!

 

[Damn_Smooth]

Maybe they'll start patent trolling Apple. Give them a taste of their own medicine.

 

[theeldest]

I really don't see this as google trying to compete with HTC and Samsung in the hardware space. The issue is about patents. Microsoft and Apple are starting to charge HTC and Samsung licensing fees on the patents they own.

Those fees start to make Android handsets more expensive than Windows or Apple devices. With Motorola's patent portfolio (which is obscenely huge) Google now has clout to keep MS and Apple from charging fees or they can do the same thing.

This should keep phone prices low because fewer license fee will be charged. (or prices skyrocket as they play one giant game of chicken).

It's not about hardware, though. It's about patents.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Did not see this coming

Same, but I can't say I am not happily surprised.

 

[Steevo]

This us about a business move, google sees a good oppertunity to purchase a well known vendor at a good price and moto needs cash. Google gets to keep their reputation untarnished with android by removing the biggest hurdle to free develpment out there, a software/hardware conglomeratr that has a woody for everything locked. I have beenwondering to myself for some time if the reason moto left so much locked is their security keys were not the same across multiple platforms, and unlocking one and getting access to the key would allow other moto peoducts to be unlocked, such as cable boxes.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

This us about a business move, google sees a good oppertunity to purchase a well known vendor at a good price and moto needs cash. Google gets to keep their reputation untarnished with android by removing the biggest hurdle to free develpment out there, a software/hardware conglomeratr that has a woody for everything locked. I have beenwondering to myself for some time if the reason moto left so much locked is their security keys were not the same across multiple platforms, and unlocking one and getting access to the key would allow other moto peoducts to be unlocked, such as cable boxes.

That's my take on it as well, this just means the possibilty for more feature rich phones and other media devices, Apple can't be happy about this.

 

[xBruce88x]

i'd love to see an Atrix II with better laptop dock. I got an atrix and hooked it up to the dock at a bestbuy mobile store. It was nice to have a keyboard but i couldn't set the keys as controls for games. that and when using tegra games it was slow as hell for w/e reason on the larger screen. would probably run better if it switched to the game res rather than stretching it to fit the higher res of the monitor. some videos stored on my phone played rather slowly too. but for web browsing it was nice. if they made an Atrix II with one of the newer 1.5ghz quads and w/e nvidia comes out with as a sequel to tegra then it would probably be better on the dock thing... and firefox for the browser of an android laptop dock? really?

 

[Wile E]

I saw this, Motorola has been disillusioning customers with mobile devices and the "open" platform for awhile. They almost went under but their great Droid helped them through, but their not so great policies for the rest of the world, and many other devices showing their true shit brown souls helped them to have a non stop barrage of insults on their facebook Europe page, and on most of their forums.


Motofail is almost a household name for those of us that paid hundreds of dollars for "the phone without compromise" only to learn how the compromising was of our ass, they sold a locked phone that took months and months, to fix issues with a phone that was sold with no flash and other major issues.

Tis why I now own Samsung Galaxy II instead of another moto product.

Yeah, my Atrix is android, but is still locked. Pissed me off when I found out about it. Hopefully I'll get an official bootloader unlock out of this.