Live data from Hacker News

Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

asymco.com

21–30 of 48 posts

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes: it would alleviate the concerns of other other Android licensees, who currently own about 45% of the smartphone market.

Sounds very unlikely. If it was that they would've have announced it by now. Or the headline would be 'Google gets joint licensing(and right to sue) for Motorola patents for $6 billion'.

[deleted]

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes: it would alleviate the concerns of other other Android licensees, who currently own about 45% of the smartphone market.

Sounds very unlikely. If it was that they would've have announced it by now. Or the headline would be 'Google gets joint licensing(and right to sue) for Motorola patents for $6 billion'.

I think the way the courts work is that only the patent owner can sue for infringement.

And recent events tend to show that Moto Mobility would not have been able to continue to sell smartphones if they had sold their patents to Google.

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just one of many, many websites that makes their money by pandering to a niche. It's tasteless, but profitable.

>It's tasteless, but profitable. The problem is that they are bandied about as independent opinion and analysis. Gruber sells ads on his RSS feeds, which seem to cost thousands of dollars each, thanks to advertising by iOS apps. No wonder he plays to his fanbase with the pro-Apple and anti-Google/Android/MS rhetoric. He must be laughing all the way to the bank while thinking up his next 'The precisely perfect placeme…

Just because people don’t share your opinion doesn’t mean that they are purposefully lying. It’s a quite common fallacy, really.

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes: it would alleviate the concerns of other other Android licensees, who currently own about 45% of the smartphone market.

Sounds very unlikely. If it was that they would've have announced it by now. Or the headline would be 'Google gets joint licensing(and right to sue) for Motorola patents for $6 billion'.

>If it was that they would've have announced it by now.

A reason for them not to announce it is fear of drawing the attention of anti-trust regulators.

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#25

Is it only me that think's this guy's a nutter that gets by by saying whatever Apple fans want to hear? Here's some of his startlingly wrong predictions about the smartphone market from last year: http://www.asymco.com/2010/11/03/what-do-you-have-to-believe... His key arguments where that: * Android wouldn't grow faster than the average of RIM, Nokia, HP and Apple. * Nokia wouldn't dump Symbian&Meego for someone else…

He was largely right on profitability, no?

Not really. He forgot to consider the other set of companies making money from Android: Arms merchants like Qualcomm,TI and NVIDIA. For example, NVIDIA is pretty thrilled with all the Tegra 2 design wins they got from Android manufacturers.

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#26
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I usually don't agree with the convoluted and twisted logic of Asymco, Gruber and Marco (they do get a lot of undeserved traction on HN thanks to its big section of Apple fans), I think this time he does have a point. It will be a tightrope walk for Google about who and how to share the longterm plans of the OS with etc.

Undeserved traction? Isn't Apple performing outrageously well with consumers and as a company? Were they not the largest capitalized company in the world at one point recently? If Apple were not being reported on here heavily (and positively), a site devoted to the intersection of hacking and business, that would be awfully weird, no? As far as I know, developer revenue from iPhone apps still dwarfs Android. Shouldn'…

I was talking about _some_ posts from sites like Asymco, Gruber's and Marco and some HN comments.

I don't know how you construed it as if my comment was against general(if a little overactive) Apple coverage, which is think is well deserved since Apple is doing a lot lately. You were attacking a strawman.

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds very unlikely. If it was that they would've have announced it by now. Or the headline would be 'Google gets joint licensing(and right to sue) for Motorola patents for $6 billion'.

>If it was that they would've have announced it by now. A reason for them not to announce it is fear of drawing the attention of anti-trust regulators.

Huh what? If they had bought the Novell or Nortel patents, would they have been blocked? In fact they were able to block MS(via the DoJ) from using Novell patents against Android.

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>HTC announced that its first quarter 2011 profits were up by a staggering 191 per cent to $511 million from the same time last year. Revenue figures were not too shabby either, showing 174 per cent growth, meaning that profit growth outstripped revenue growth, something that is particularly desirable on any balance sheet. Do you get your news from Apple centered sites and blogs and the comments there? There seems to…

See here, however: http://www.intomobile.com/2011/05/02/apple-has-50-profit-sha... While HTC's profits are unquestionably growing, their profit share actually declined a bit; remember it's a very rapidly expanding industry. Motorola Mobility, SE and LG are loss-making or close to it. Only Samsung is in a really strong position.

You think that's enough to support the following statement?

>Besides android vendors aren't really profitable by big margins

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See here, however: http://www.intomobile.com/2011/05/02/apple-has-50-profit-sha... While HTC's profits are unquestionably growing, their profit share actually declined a bit; remember it's a very rapidly expanding industry. Motorola Mobility, SE and LG are loss-making or close to it. Only Samsung is in a really strong position.

You think that's enough to support the following statement? >Besides android vendors aren't really profitable by big margins

Samsung's profit margin is good, and HTC's acceptable (though neither are as high as Apple's), but all other major manufacturers are either loss-making or making a tiny profit margin.

Re: Google's Latest Acquisition: The perils of licensing to your competitors

#30
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's tasteless, but profitable. The problem is that they are bandied about as independent opinion and analysis. Gruber sells ads on his RSS feeds, which seem to cost thousands of dollars each, thanks to advertising by iOS apps. No wonder he plays to his fanbase with the pro-Apple and anti-Google/Android/MS rhetoric. He must be laughing all the way to the bank while thinking up his next 'The precisely perfect placeme…

Just because people don’t share your opinion doesn’t mean that they are purposefully lying. It’s a quite common fallacy, really.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" -Sinclair

Regardless of the above quote, I do not accuse them of lying. But there's a strong elementy of hypocrisy and fanboyism, both in supporting Apple almost all the time, and screaming bloody murder and abject criticism of any moves by Apple's competitors.

Do you seriously think analysis by Asymco, Gruber and Marco regarding Apple are the flawless gospel truth?

The fallacy you mention would apply more to the accusations of commenters being paid MS shills, which happens all the time here on HN too.

Post reply on HN