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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

#191

Post by barkingcat »

barkingcat wrote: post #189
harrychenca wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to know how long it took you to gather all the figures? and Where you collect them? I am currently working on a platform that help people become better investors. I found your analysis amazingly informative and concise! Thanks!

Quarterly and annual reports. The prospectus for the original sale. These are all public companies so the reports are on record. Before you start coding or starting a project on this kind of thing please read up on how a company goes public and the reporting requirements and where these things are filed. Also talk to someone in the industry and pick their brain. I'm in Canada and a requirement for even doing somethin…

For example many of these types of documents are filed on sedar in Canada and on Edgar in the us. If these terms don't mean anything to you then you should read up on them.

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#192

Post by Pxtl »

palebluedot wrote: post #105

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.

I bought my wife a Moto G. I've been pretty impressed with the device - I was hopeful for the future of Moto/Google. This is disappointing. Lenovo is an intensely boring company, they're not going to do anything fun with the Moto brand.

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#195

Post by interpol_p »

smith7018 wrote: post #169
pbreit wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much cheaper, doesn't need to plug into wall, more and more open viewing options. Question should probably be reversed (says this Apple fanatic).

I disagree. As someone who owns a Chromecast, I think you're doing a _huge_ disservice to the AppleTV. The Chromecast isn't a standalone device. Period. Full stop. It's basically a mildly improved AirPlay device that still lacks many features (even in the way of AirPlay). Off the top of my head: 1. The streaming isn't system wide. Developers need to incorporate the streaming ability into their apps whereas Apple has…

One other point I'd add is that I hate using my phone (or tablet) as a remote for my TV.

I have an Apple TV, and being able to stream content via Air Play for my local TV network, YouTube, and VLC Streamer was nice at first. And then over the months I slowly stopped bothering with my phone and kept grabbing the Apple TV remote.

Interacting with a TV through a phone or tablet interface, no matter how simple, is just not as nice as looking directly at the screen and interacting.

I watch less shows now because of it — because there are more options only available on my phone. I just can't be bothered to use them.

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#196

Post by ben1040 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #65
lotso wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's also a big statement on Google's ability to succeed in the hardware market, where they've never seemed to be able to gain real success despite their attempts with notebooks and phones. And Google TV. Let's not forget that huge failure. "By the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded in it." -Eric Schmidt

> And Google TV. Let's not forget that huge failure. Not to mention http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_Q

Considering they never actually exchanged money a single Q (the people who pre-ordered them wound up getting them free, as did I/O 2012 attendees), it doesn't seem to be so much of a failure as it was just market research on how to do it the next time.

Notwithstanding the built-in amp, the Chromecast is a pretty narrow superset of the Q at least in terms of features.

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#197

Post by jerf »

mediaman wrote: post #75
IBM wrote: post #57

This makes this tweet[1] from Chris Dixon hilarious: "Which strategy wins the future: stock buybacks or investing in AI + robots + smart devices?" I mean it really shouldn't surprise anyone that a VC would be cheerleading expensive acquisitions with no regard for shareholder value or whether it has any hope of making a significant return. But the real answer to his question is: organic growth. And if you are confiden…

I know Google is trying to break out of their traditional business, but it seems like they've been trying to do that for years and nearly all their revenue is still ads. Just because very smart entrepreneurs are able to capitalize on an opportunity (search) and turn it into one of the world's largest companies, doesn't mean they can arbitrarily do it again.

Has any company the size of Google ever successfully pulled of this sort of diversification? (Honest question, there may well be answers I'm not thinking of. But I do mean very large companies, I know smaller ones diversify all the time successfully (and unsuccessfully).)

For context, you think about a company like Microsoft or Google "diversifying", and, you know, for them it's not enough to "merely" build a $250 million/year business for it to be considered a leg of the metaphorical company stool, instead of just a "hobby". How can you hope to scale up a new core competency to the requisite levels? (It seems "merely" having vast resources is no guarantee of success.)

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#198

Post by crucifiction »

jerf wrote: post #197
mediaman wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know Google is trying to break out of their traditional business, but it seems like they've been trying to do that for years and nearly all their revenue is still ads. Just because very smart entrepreneurs are able to capitalize on an opportunity (search) and turn it into one of the world's largest companies, doesn't mean they can arbitrarily do it again.

Has any company the size of Google ever successfully pulled of this sort of diversification? (Honest question, there may well be answers I'm not thinking of. But I do mean very large companies, I know smaller ones diversify all the time successfully (and unsuccessfully).) For context, you think about a company like Microsoft or Google "diversifying", and, you know, for them it's not enough to "merely" build a $250 mi…

Amazon has done it a couple of times (Kindle, AWS).

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#199

Post by spinchange »

It seems to me that this must have been the intention all along. When Google purchased them, Motorola was about to start suing other members of the Android ecosystem because they were that desperate. So the deal was always defensive. I think the value of Motorola's IP was always overstated and Google knew that but it made for a good story for shareholders along with Google signalling they were serious about hardware. And maybe they are, but the whole "American made" angle they took and all the tax incentives they got, and for what...to sell the company 7 months after launching a flagship phone??? It's a great phone, but it looks to me like this whole thing was set-up to sell out from the start. If so, it was a brilliant unwinding of something that could have been very bad for Android at a critical time. As others have pointed out, they didn't take as bad a bath financially as it seems either.

The alternative narrative is that they suddenly had a change of heart because of Nest, but why not just integrate or put that team in charge of Motorola if it's about talent?

In any case, the Moto X is a really nice phone. I feel bad for the employees of Motorola and find this maneuvering very "corporate" and un-Googley.

Re: Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola handset division

#200

Post by jsz0 »

The timing of this (vs. the Google/Samsung arrangement) really makes it look like Google's involvement with Motorola was simply to intimidate Samsung. The message was we'll piss away our advertising revenue to destroy you if you don't do what we want. Short term success maybe but in the long term it puts Google firmly on the Microsoft track. You can only gain so much via intimidation.
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