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Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

cnbc.com

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Re: Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

#21
post #16
post #7

Would the other smartphone makers be happy that their OS be in control of a direct competitor? I would assume the first thing Samsung would do is to branch Android.

Most likely they will throw out Android alltogether, and move to what has been their "wartime airfield" - tizen, which they kept funded and alive all those years

Unlikely -- Tizen would be dead on arrival, being inferior in all ways to Android, including the app ecosystem.

Re: Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

#22
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most likely they will throw out Android alltogether, and move to what has been their "wartime airfield" - tizen, which they kept funded and alive all those years

Unlikely -- Tizen would be dead on arrival, being inferior in all ways to Android, including the app ecosystem.

For the app ecosystem, I wonder if webassembly isn't going to even the game between the different OSes. You will be able to code in a single language of your choice an app with fast performance that will run on every platform, current and future. iOS allows you to pin a webapp to the desktop which then looks in every way like a native app, I presume android must have something similar.

Re: Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

#23
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could be a coincidence, but they got serious about Tizen a few weeks afterward.

Right, but did it lead to taking Tizen to the level it could replace Android? What I like about Samsung is that they do realize and accept that the software is not their forte. Hence Android.

> What I like about Samsung is that they do realize and accept that the software is not their forte.

I may be out of date, but I hated the last samsung phone I had because they did not realize this and subjected their users to touchwhizz.

The also need to improve at supporting their software and keeping android up to date.

Re: Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

#24
They botched the Motorola acquisition and couldn’t find a way to integrate them in their mobile efforts even though both were American companies (with Moto having a significant presence right across from GOOG in the Valley). So now doing it all over again, with a Taiwan-based company is going to work better because...?

Re: Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

#26
post #24

They botched the Motorola acquisition and couldn’t find a way to integrate them in their mobile efforts even though both were American companies (with Moto having a significant presence right across from GOOG in the Valley). So now doing it all over again, with a Taiwan-based company is going to work better because...?

Because they've done it before, they'll have learned from their mistakes and will attempt to avoid repeating them.

For example, they put in place a firewall to ensure that Motorola wouldn't have any advantages over other Android manufacturers. I don't expect them to do that again.

That being said, major acquisitions are hard and I expect it to fail once again. But they'll mostly make different mistakes rather than the same ones they made last time.

Re: Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

#27
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most likely they will throw out Android alltogether, and move to what has been their "wartime airfield" - tizen, which they kept funded and alive all those years

Unlikely -- Tizen would be dead on arrival, being inferior in all ways to Android, including the app ecosystem.

>Unlikely -- Tizen would be dead on arrival, being inferior in all ways to Android, including the app ecosystem.

Would it matter when "an Android phone" means a Samsung phone 9 times out of 10 in Western markets

When an average American comes to Best Buy to buy a phone, he does not deliberate over things as abstract to him as OS of a phone. He sees an Apple phone, a Samsung phone, and a random Chinese phone.

Re: Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

#28
post #24

They botched the Motorola acquisition and couldn’t find a way to integrate them in their mobile efforts even though both were American companies (with Moto having a significant presence right across from GOOG in the Valley). So now doing it all over again, with a Taiwan-based company is going to work better because...?

Was it botched? I'm not sure the intention was to ever run Motorola as a going concern. After selling the cable/home biz, cash on hand, deferred taxes, and selling the phone biz to Lenovo, they lost just $3.5B. But they kept all of the patents, defending Android from legal assaults into the future.

Pretty good deal IMO.

Re: Google is apparently ready to buy HTC

#29
post #24

They botched the Motorola acquisition and couldn’t find a way to integrate them in their mobile efforts even though both were American companies (with Moto having a significant presence right across from GOOG in the Valley). So now doing it all over again, with a Taiwan-based company is going to work better because...?

How did they botch it? Moto was a strategic acquisition for patents; Google never intended to keep the business.
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