Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#181

Post by junkbit » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:34 PM UTC

51Cards wrote: post #166

If there is one company I trust to not screw this up it's Google and I think they have a good shot at getting this right. I'm sure their partner companies are going to be a bit ansy to start but they all compete on hardware / price anyhow which this doesn't change. A few points that pop to mind: A. They already had to compete with Motorola, so they haven't lost or gained a new competitor. B. They don't pay for Androi…

True, but Larry said in the call that Moto will have to bid to become the halo device each year on an equal footing

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#182

Post by ConstantineXVI » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:38 PM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #12

Whoa. You know what would be even more interesting than this would be Google going after ARM and it's slew of licensing. I wonder if this will make better or worse Motorola mobile phones. Will phones be pushed into retirement more early without upgrading their version of Android? Or will they have a longer software update cycle to keep them up to date in features?

There's no way an ARM acquisition by Google (or Apple, or Microsoft) would get past anti-trust issues; given that ARM, for all intents and purposes, owns the mobile market. Even if it got through, there'd be enough strings attached that there wouldn't be any value in it.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#183

Post by kinofcain » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #142

cincinnatus wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they have any sense they are already negotiating the sale of the physical business on to someone else. Keep the patent portfolio and recuop $6 billion of the initial outlay. Also, "open" in name only.

> Also, "open" in name only. "open" as in: $ repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git

"open" would be if that actually got me the latest code.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#184

Post by iqster » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

pietrofmaggi wrote: post #122

iqster wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 tal…

Motorola was split in two companies the past 4th of January. Motorola Mobility (MMI) and Motorola Solutions (MSI). The cellular infrastructure, part of MSI, was sold to Nokia/Siemes Networks. Motorola Solutions in mainly the Enterprise Mobility Business (Mobile Rugged Devices), WiFi systems, Tetra networks and a lot of other Government stuffs.

Thanks for the clarification. While MSI is considered the successor of the original Motorola, you are absolutely correct. I didn't realize that the cell infrastructure division(s) got sold (used to work on CDMA base-stations a decade a go). Makes me a bit sad. Do you know if they kept the employees?

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#185

Post by bryanlarsen » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:41 PM UTC

51Cards wrote: post #170

One further thought on the patent portfolio. Don't forget that Motorola is widely considered to have "invented" the first practical cell phone. Their patent portfolio isn't just going to be stuff like "Using shades of gray in a UI". It's going to run deep into what constitutes a mobile device.

Those patents would have been issued in the 70s and long since expired. Even the first generation digital cell phone patents should be mostly expired. I'm not sure how involved Motorola was in the consortiums that developed the 2G/3G/4G standards, but my impression was that they were dominated by the chipset vendors (Qualcomm etc) and the telecom guys (Nortel etc).

Of course, there were competing standards, and who primed which varies, but I don't think Motorola primed any of them.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#186

Post by krakensden » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:43 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #142

cincinnatus wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they have any sense they are already negotiating the sale of the physical business on to someone else. Keep the patent portfolio and recuop $6 billion of the initial outlay. Also, "open" in name only.

> Also, "open" in name only. "open" as in: $ repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git

unless you want the latest version...

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#187

Post by mingramjr » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:43 PM UTC

gahahaha wrote: post #143

I always wonder: Wouldn't it be much cheaper to just spend a few billions to buy some new patent legislation from congress?

how long would that take?

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#188

Post by qeorge » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:44 PM UTC

jfruh wrote: post #152

qeorge wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and if RIM keeps dropping I wouldn't be surprised to see MS acquire them.

How would this fit in with a Nokia-WP7 Special Relationship though? Would MS kill off old and new BlackBerry OSes and just use RIM's old sales contacts to sell more WP7 phones or what?

That's a great question. I would expect MS to maintain the BlackBerry brand, which I think still has some clout in the enterprise. That and MS/RIM have a somewhat long-standing relationship too. As I understand it, BlackBerry is the only way to get end-to-end encryption from an Exchange server to a smartphone, although I'd be surprised if that's not added to WP7.

But basically, I think RIM is screwing up so much that they'll be an acquisition target soon, and MS seems like the most likely buyer to me.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#189

Post by SoftwareMaven » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:46 PM UTC

junkbit wrote: post #181

51Cards wrote: post #166

If there is one company I trust to not screw this up it's Google and I think they have a good shot at getting this right. I'm sure their partner companies are going to be a bit ansy to start but they all compete on hardware / price anyhow which this doesn't change. A few points that pop to mind: A. They already had to compete with Motorola, so they haven't lost or gained a new competitor. B. They don't pay for Androi…

True, but Larry said in the call that Moto will have to bid to become the halo device each year on an equal footing

"My son is going to have to bid to get the contract to build the new city building, just like anybody else. He will be on equal footing."

I won't believe it until I see a regular pattern of Moto not getting picked. That goes against too much human nature.

Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion

#190

Post by icebraining » Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 2:47 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?

Google doesn't have to as long as they don't distribute binaries. The liable ones are probably the phone manufacturers. But only the copyright holders can sue anyway, and I don't see that happening.