Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#61

Post by RuadhanMc » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:18 PM UTC

It's fascinating to see the behemoths (Apple, Microsoft, Google) positioning themselves for the fight ahead. The importance of this fight cannot be understated.

Microsoft won the last fight like this and they have dominated our desktops for 15 years (OK, maybe not all HN devotees) and pocketed gazillions.

Apple are ahead right now (manufacturing handsets, selling software, etc), Google are second and Microsoft are lagging behind in third, but this Motorola deal means that Google might be able to pull ahead of Apple for a period and alienated phone manufacturers who are using Android might flock to Microsoft, inflating their sails a little.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#62

Post by RuadhanMc » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:21 PM UTC

jamesteow wrote: post #46

RuadhanMc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has got to play the game until the rules of the game change. They need patents for protection. Yes, the patents are overpriced, but does Google have a choice?

And nobody has to change the rules if people play the game.

It is a vicious circle, I agree with you.

But it's not clear how Google can break the cycle by themselves. If Google were to say no to patents, without there first being major reforms to the patent system, then they would be slowly squeezed by their competitors patents until they ran out of juice.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#63

Post by iqster » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:22 PM UTC

stravid wrote: post #5

MOTOROLA Launch Date: 1928 GOOGLE Launch Date: 7/9/1998

Motorola != Motorola Mobility. Motorola Mobility is a recent spin-off from Motorola and encompasses the original company's handset business as well as its related patent portfolio.

What does Motorola do? Well ... cellular infrastructure is their core business, and they also have services/solutions for things like emergency response services (e.g. 911 in the US), law enforcement, and I think they still make walkie talkies.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#64

Post by fpgeek » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:22 PM UTC

And, sadly, another voice for patent reform is muted...

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#65

Post by arjunnarayan » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:24 PM UTC

listic wrote: post #60

starwed wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> despite Google's insistence that Android is open, I don't think we've seen the Honeycomb source code yet The word "yet" is mildly disingenuous. No one is waiting for them to do that -- google said a while ago that it wouldn't happen, but that they would release the source to Ice Cream Sandwich.

How can Google get away with not publishing GPL-derivative code from the legal point of view?

Because it's not GPL-derivative code? http://source.android.com/source/licenses.html

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#66

Post by ConstantineXVI » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:25 PM UTC

pinaceae wrote: post #36

good for Nokia, as it shows that Google now has the possibility to close down Android.

Technically, yes. However, given how much other OEMs have invested into Android, any significant special treatment to Motorola will have the anti-trust dogs on them in no time. With the scrutiny Google's under right now, they don't have much of a choice.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#67

Post by Happer » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:25 PM UTC

twidlit wrote: post #2

Wow, not any of the tech blogs saw the smoke before the fire? Could be a hardware + patents play...

"Quick and easy fix for all Android patent problems. Google should buy Motorola" 02 Aug 11, unwiredview.com:

http://www.unwiredview.com/2011/08/02/quick-and-easy-fix-to-...

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#68

Post by bergie » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:25 PM UTC

haasted wrote: post #26

This is probably going to make some of the other handset manufacturers (HTC, Sony-Ericsson, etc) complain about Motorola having an unfair advantage when it comes to implementing Android. Wonder if any of them are about to regret basing their smartphone offerings on Android? The move ought to strengthen the competition among the handsets, though, as Google can now ship their "dream-version" of an Android-phone.

Yep, this might be good news for the other "licensable" smartphone/tablet operating systems, which include WP7, webOS and MeeGo.

Samsung already has Bada, which may have ambitions to become a bit more of a proper smartphone operating system. But there is a bunch of manufacturers that may have to switch from Android because of this deal.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#69

Post by billybob » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:25 PM UTC

One interesting side note: Sprint/Nextel has always heavily relied on Motorola phones, and a few months back, Sprint and Google rolled out tight integration between Sprint service and Google Voice (http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/sprint-integrate...)

So now I'm wondering 1) Was Spring anticipating this merger, and 2) will Google's purchase of Motorola be a boon for Sprint?

I'm not a Sprint customer, but in the name of keeping more competitors in the mobile market, I do want to see them stay in the game.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#70

Post by jeffool » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 12:26 PM UTC

I'm of the mindset that this is chiefly for the patents... But.

The real benefactors of this? The former Danger team that made the TMobile Sidekick, one of whom created Android.

If you recall, shortly after the last I/O the gang was announced reunited at Google working on a plethora of hardware toys. I think Google just bought them a new playground to play in.