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Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

reuters.com

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Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#101

Post by w1ntermute »

untog wrote: post #95
w1ntermute wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And they're off to a good start with the Moto X and Moto G. I don't really understand why they'd want to sell Motorola now.

Sale for the MotoX at least have been... unimpressive.

You don't achieve impressive sales numbers for a smartphone in one generation, because of the enormous importance of brand recognition. Samsung makes subpar handsets at best, but achieve enormous sales because of their brand recognition. That took them several generations to build up. It wasn't until the S3 that people really started to recognize Samsung phones as a distinct entity.

Google should've given Motorola at least 2 or 3 more years before calling it quits, if they really wanted to gain a foothold in the hardware market.

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#102

Post by m0nastic »

Despite the huge delta in what they paid for Motorola, vs what they're reported to be selling it for, other people have pointed out that the way the deal was structured may not actually wind up making it a huge financial loss for Google.

I certainly can't think of any way to spin the way this turned out to be positive for Google, but I don't think the absolute numbers will worry them all that much.

I haven't seen anyone here mention that at the time of the acquisition, Motorola was attempting to sue all the other Android manufacturers over its patents; and it was posited that Google was basically forced to buy Motorola to keep them from poisoning the ecosystem.

I assume that not happening was probably worth more to Google than what they would up having to pay for Motorola.

Psychologically, it does help reinforce the idea that Google really doesn't know what it's doing with regards to hardware (although hey, they just paid more for Nest than potentially what they're selling Motorola for).

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#103

Post by jjindev »

slg wrote: post #51

I am sure I am part of the minority on HN involved in the enterprise market, but I am intrigued by what Lenovo's plans might be for Motorola. With their already established relationships and customer base, Lenovo should have a much easier time selling their hardware than Google did. At the very least, this move might be the final death knell for Blackberry.

I have a related suspicion ... that Google made the deal in part because they believe Lenovo will run Motorola well, with goals compatible to Google and Android.

I don't think Google was ever into Motorola to make it pay. They were there for strategy, and Lenovo can do that too.

(Don't forget that Lenovo just bought IBM's x86 server business, and so is "going big.")

Update, sorry for the bad link http://www.pcworld.com/article/2090680/lenovo-agrees-to-buy-...

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#104

Post by pimeys »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #27
jfb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious as to what exactly Lenovo is getting out of the deal. I hear good things about the new Motorola phones, but is the midlevel handset business really that attractive a one? I doubt HTC or Sony are feeling particularly good about their exposure to it.

The same thing Lenovo got from buying IBM's PC and now server businesses. Instant inroads into a foreign market. I mean, Lenovo went from a brand no one had ever heard of to the worlds largest PC maker in a decade or so. They're pretty awesome at squeezing money out of low margin businesses and creating some pretty high quality products (their own branded smartphones are pretty awesome looking, wish they sold in Cana…

They might look awesome in the pictures. I was testing their handsets while visiting Thailand and the only good thing about them was that they were cheap. The builds were pretty bulky and the OS felt quite slow when comparing to the Nexus 5 right next to them. Of course you paid 3000-6000 THB from then when Nexus was 16900 THB...

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#105

Post by palebluedot »

Google just confirmed it, and explained some of their reasoning: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/lenovo-to-acquire-mot...

I'm inexplicably bummed about this. I was excited to see what Google would do long term with Motorola, and I thought the Moto X and Moto G was a great start. I thought eventually, a Google+Motorola powerhouse could provide a nice yin to Apple's yang.

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#106

Post by mcintyre1994 »

pearjuice wrote: post #88

It's over, Android is finished. With Google parting hands with Motorola and abandoning Nexus all together (Google Play Edition phones will take over), the consumer is entirely dependent of consumer-oriented manufactures like Samsung. A black day for Android, a good day for Samsung its monopoly.

Have you got a good source on that abandoning Nexus thing? I saw in on The Verge forum but the source was just repeating a rumour. (http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/01/27/google-to-kill-nexus...)

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#107

Post by Mikeb85 »

pimeys wrote: post #104
Mikeb85 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same thing Lenovo got from buying IBM's PC and now server businesses. Instant inroads into a foreign market. I mean, Lenovo went from a brand no one had ever heard of to the worlds largest PC maker in a decade or so. They're pretty awesome at squeezing money out of low margin businesses and creating some pretty high quality products (their own branded smartphones are pretty awesome looking, wish they sold in Cana…

They might look awesome in the pictures. I was testing their handsets while visiting Thailand and the only good thing about them was that they were cheap. The builds were pretty bulky and the OS felt quite slow when comparing to the Nexus 5 right next to them. Of course you paid 3000-6000 THB from then when Nexus was 16900 THB...

Which series did you try out? I was thinking K series...

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#108

Post by pimeys »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #107
pimeys wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might look awesome in the pictures. I was testing their handsets while visiting Thailand and the only good thing about them was that they were cheap. The builds were pretty bulky and the OS felt quite slow when comparing to the Nexus 5 right next to them. Of course you paid 3000-6000 THB from then when Nexus was 16900 THB...

Which series did you try out? I was thinking K series...

I wasn't so interested about them to really write down the numbers. Lots of different letter + four numbers combinations and I remember that none of them was above 10 000 THB.

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#109

Post by hrvbr »

mediaman wrote: post #7

Huge announcement if true, and if this accounts for the entirety of the Motorola purchase that Google made. That means that in less than two years, Google shredded 85% of the $13bn paid for Motorola. At the time, the high price paid was excused for the patents, because the business itself did not generate nearly enough earnings to justify the price. Now, if it is true that the patents are part of the deal (the articl…

It is confirmed: http://investor.google.com/releases/2014/0129.html
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