1) Buy a hardware company.
2) ?
3) Sell more advertising on search results.
Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
191–200 of 393 posts
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
6 month ago Motorola Mobility traded around 36$/share. Now Google is paying 40$/share.
So they did overpay a bit. But there is a genuine synergy - a phone company being bought by a company that makes a phone OS. This might hurt Android adoption a little, but I doubt Google really cares. All they really want are more browser phones, which will funnel more money into google (via adsense). Or maybe it will make Google more sensitive to what direction Android has to go.
I don't see how the "Googlerola" hardware can hurt Android adoption. If you are a smartphone maker with at least some ambition for market share you either use Android or get ready to fall short on sales.
Aside from Apple and MS-Nokia, until something disruptive happens in the phone OS scene Android is the way to go for phone makers.
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#193Interestingly, 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…
>Android is platform neutral in a way no other can aspire to: it's open-source.
In practice, is the platform that much different from Windows? Anyone can slap it on any hardware and sell it as Windows and pre-install their own software. In fact, with Windows they don't have to follow the rules OEMs need to follow to bundle things like Maps and Android Marketplace with the phone.
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Apple are ahead right now (manufacturing handsets, selling software, etc) Uhh, haven't more Android handsets been sold per day than iOS handsets for like the last 6 months?
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.
I think "ahead" is usually quantified by numbers out in the wild. We, as consumers, don't care about their profits, but we do watch things that are trendy and dominant (which Android is now).
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#195One 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 p…
There must be a treasure-trove of prior-art, no?
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
the Nexus device gets a lot of press as its the first out of the gate with the new build, but realistically, even if that remains as they say it doesn't seem like it would matter much if Google does the rest of it right -- meaning stock Android, and Google updating the SW quickly and over decent time interval.
It seems most likely to me that the Nexus program will remain in place, but Motorola will have multiple "Nexus" type phones in the way that matters to consumers. Not first always, but with all the other properties of the Nexus. At least I hope that is where Google take this. It seems unlikely they would skin Android, and I'd hope they act as best of class in the SW update part of things.
Lots of interesting things here. This would make Google the #1 set top box provider in the country. I'm sure the mfg doesn't have too many degrees of freedom there, but still interesting.
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many patent lawyers are engineers.
Yup, after I got my masters and then got laid off I got an offer from a patent law firm to put me through law school if I'd come work for them. Patent law sort of sounded like one of the circles of Hell for me, though, so I didn't take them up.
What law school? Were you allowed to choose?
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#198If 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…
To add: a) there will be at least 1 company focused on android which will be protected with the cloth that is Google's legal team. b) Google can make Motorola better c) Google can make hardware to go with their software. d) Google can finally make Motorola phones running android open. e) We can finally see what it means for a hardware company to exist with a motto: "Don't be Evil". Sure Google is not perfect, but all…
I hope you're right. But Google has certainly sold it to its Android partners as "we're going to use their patents to defend your crapware-ridden half-assed locked down handsets and then smother the hardware people with this wet pillow":
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not sure if Apple would ever be caught admitting that any of their products suck. They will always sell stuff in a more positive way (I mean they won't say "our product x sucked, this is what we do to make it better"). Why should Google do it differently.
Didn't Steve Jobs say Mobile Me sucked at WWDC 2011?
Years after the fact that it sucked became apparent.
Re: Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion
#200One 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 p…
I agree, much of the early stuff will have expired, but Motorola being in the mobile biz so long probably means their waters still run pretty deep as far as core mobile functionality.