Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#131

Post by elliottcarlson » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:23 PM UTC

drivingmenuts wrote: post #75

dotcoma wrote: post #74

ok, 24,500 patents. And - I know it's old-fashioned - how many employees?

Sad to say, I don't think employees count anymore. It's all about locking up the patents. OTOH, X number of people now work for Google without having to take those quizzes.

From what I have read in previous HN threads - merged in employees still have to interview for placement purposes - could be off on that one though, but I em pretty sure I have read this more than once. Could also be a different story if the nature is more of a talent acquisition, but that is clearly not the case here.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#132

Post by rbanffy » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:24 PM UTC

sunchild wrote: post #123

hammock wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did it for the patents. Larry Page: "Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies." Seems like the best jobs at Google will soon be the lawyers, not the engineers.

Many patent lawyers are engineers.

A lawyer who's also an engineer is a powerful entity.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#133

Post by nextparadigms » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:25 PM UTC

kylec wrote: post #30

Interestingly, this means the only manufacturer-neutral smartphone OS is now Windows Phone 7. iOS is on Apple, Android is on Motorola/Google, Blackberry on RIM, and webOS on HP/Palm. I wonder if this means we'll see an increase in WP7-based phones from HTC, Samsung, and LG...

WP7 is not exactly neutral anymore after the "special" deal they've made with Nokia, where they give them a lot more liberties than to the other manufacturers.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#134

Post by rbanffy » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:28 PM UTC

kylec wrote: post #30

Interestingly, this means the only manufacturer-neutral smartphone OS is now Windows Phone 7. iOS is on Apple, Android is on Motorola/Google, Blackberry on RIM, and webOS on HP/Palm. I wonder if this means we'll see an increase in WP7-based phones from HTC, Samsung, and LG...

Android is platform neutral in a way no other can aspire to: it's open-source.

What Google did was to gain access to Motorola Mobility's patent portfolio in order to defend HTC and Samsung from Apple and Microsoft. Google will own the company, but it will not become Google Mobility - it'll continue to exist as a separate entity.

They will probably manufacture the reference implementations. In order to reassure other phone manufacturers, Google will probably improve their code release schedule.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#135

Post by nextparadigms » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:28 PM UTC

latch wrote: post #4

63% premium...insanity. This is all about patents, isn't it? Instead of spending $4billion for patents, spend 3x as much, get a huge portfolio (I don't know how large, but it's supposedly quite large)..and a part of a company as well.

Google wouldn't have done it just for patents. They want to enter the hardware game as well. Both to show others how Android phones should be made, but also to make many billions from selling devices, as well. I think this is just the beginning for Google as a hardware company, and in a way it was inevitable. They are a strong tech brand, and they could become very successful selling tech products.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#136

Post by div » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:30 PM UTC

ErrantX wrote: post #124

hammock wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did it for the patents. Larry Page: "Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies." Seems like the best jobs at Google will soon be the lawyers, not the engineers.

I suspect it is a little from column A and a little from column B; he did also talk about it being good for the user experience etc. They get patents and a manufacturing arm (which then gives them control of the entire product cycle for Android). The latter is a logical move; a lot of Apple's success comes from controlling all aspects of the iPhone. I know Android is open software, but internally for Google it makes…

I'm very curious to see the smartphones that will be coming out of Googorolla.

Google's been promoting the "top end phone with fast updates" with their Nexus line which makes me wonder if Motorola-manufactured Androids are all going to be top of the line models.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#137

Post by rbanffy » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:30 PM UTC

kylec wrote: post #43

sinhpham wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's Nokia for Win Phone 7 =)

True, but it's not as though Microsoft bought Nokia. As crazy as that sounds, though, that would have been less crazy than Google's buying Motorola and how now they've suddenly become a mass-market hardware manufacturer. I really fear that things that Google has historically been bad at (support, etc) will come back to bite them hard.

> True, but it's not as though Microsoft bought Nokia.

At least not yet. But it seems Elop is doing his best to make it easy. Or, at least, cheap.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#138

Post by nextparadigms » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:31 PM UTC

kylec wrote: post #43

sinhpham wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's Nokia for Win Phone 7 =)

True, but it's not as though Microsoft bought Nokia. As crazy as that sounds, though, that would have been less crazy than Google's buying Motorola and how now they've suddenly become a mass-market hardware manufacturer. I really fear that things that Google has historically been bad at (support, etc) will come back to bite them hard.

After Google's move, I think Microsoft is much more likely to buy Nokia, too. But I think they'll wait to see how Nokia's first WP7 phones go.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#139

Post by MrScruff » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:31 PM UTC

w1ntermute wrote: post #107

RuadhanMc wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but Apple make a ton more money per handset than Google does, so in my mind they are ahead. They also continue to lead design-wise. Manufacturers are still copying Apple products in this space.

Google doesn't (directly) make any money off of any Android handset, so I'd say that's very difficult to assess without knowledge and analysis of the impact Android has had on AdSense revenue, not to mention this money is a continuous stream of revenue following the purchase of an Android phone as opposed to a one-time up-front fee.

I'm not sure why Google would make much more in Adsense revenue on Android than they would on iOS. I think the primary issue is not conceding control of the platform their revenue is reliant on to a competitor.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#140

Post by deskamess » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 1:33 PM UTC

martingordon wrote: post #18

So now Google has blessed a hardware manufacturer as the official Android manufacturer, and despite Google's insistence that Android is open, I don't think we've seen the Honeycomb source code yet. How long until Google no longer offers the Android source at all? Samsung, HTC and the others are probably not very happy about this and will likely move them to start pushing their Windows Phone 7 handsets a bit harder th…

Officially the other manufacturers have welcomed this as a move to protect Android. Which they profit from. Perhaps the patents that Google acquired can be lumped in with other patents from these companies for a 'MPEG like' protection cartel. Use it to get rid of any more additional payments to Microsoft or Apple in the future.

I hope Google uses the facility to build developer phones and tablets. That way you do not compete too much with the other phone makers. Release a new device every year with new features.