Google 'Supercharging Android' With Acquisition of Motorola Mobility

[BaldiMac]

different law suits. But look at the list MS and Apple have filled. Apple went after HTC, Samsung and Moto. MS has the same list.

Might of worked it it was just Motorola but hard to say that when HTC, Samsung and Motorola are all in law suits with Apple. Apple fired first in at least 2 of those.

Samsung isn't about Android, so I'm not sure why you are throwing them in there. So HTC is the only "pop shot" Apple has initiated against Android.

Still not sure why you claim that this acquisition will stop Apple or Microsoft from going after Android indirectly and "force" them to take Google head on. Motorola isn't the only Android device manufacturer.

 

[Prallethrin]

12.5 billion. Ouch.
Well at least it's better than 8.6 billion MS paid for LOLSkype.

On the patent front I don't really think this effects Apple much. They are already being sued by Motorola over patents, so Motorola's patents are already "in play".
The patents are just changing hands from one entity that's hostile to Apple, to another entity that's hostile to Apple.

Unless Google disbands the hardware team, I wonder what is the reaction of Google's partners right now. Formerly a partner, now a competitor.
That tale kind of sounds familiar doesn't it...

 

[E.Lizardo]

I really couldn't care less,as long as Apple keeps making phones.

 

[aohus]

Thought this was an interesting read from Reuters

"We do not believe that Google will aim to continue to make handsets long term, but will rather look to spin the business out to an Android partner - such as Huawei, LG, ZTE, for example."

Essentially, Google is open to selling those assets maybe some years later, to a 3rd party Android hardware vendor. Interesting...

 

[Thex1138]

What licensing muscle would that be ?

Foss points it out...

 

[wade123]

Apple vs Google

I was on apple for a few years (3GS and 4) and am now on SGS2.

Apple used to laugh at googles tiny customer base, limited number of apps etc.

As soon as android exploded and the opposition started producing better phones than apple they started suing!

I note that they have attacked samsung first because they are the main threat (the SGS2 is better that the iphone 4 and probably 5 and the ipad will be passed in the next 6 months if it hasn't already.

All i can say is lucky apple didn't invent the phone, mobile phone, computer or laptop or we would still be in the 90's.

Apple, you should try and beat the competition by making better phones not suing them!! Give the people quicker processors, bigger screens, sd cards, flash, no crappy itunes etc etc.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I do think we will see the following:

1. The Motorola-designed phones--which are actually not bad models--will lose the Motoblur interface enhancement and will become "pure Android experience" phones. That means the phones will get the latest Android update pretty quickly.

2. We could see the Motorola phones become "universal" models that use a multimode cellphone chipset so it supports either GSM, CDMA or LTE "out of the box."

 

[marksman]

People don't read anything properly or are too stupid to understand what just happened and instead go back to their fanboy roots of Apple vs Android. It's not about that at all. It's about buying one of the largest patent portfolios in the phone industry and then you can cross license it to HTC, Samsung and all your other Android partners.

What does this do? Stop Microsoft and Apple from remotely having a chance at winning any lawsuits against them. If nothing else both Microsoft and Apple should be a little worried because from what I understand Motorola has some of the most core/essential patents when it comes to cell phone technology.

They've said repeatedly that Motorola will continue as a separate business and compete with other Android partners as normal - no favorable treatment.

It's all about the patents...that's it.

Licensing moto patents from google does NOTHING for them when it comes to apple patent claims. Google owns them not htc or Samsung.

A market leading company who tries to interfere with patent claims by their biggest competitor could be viewed as highly anti competitive.

People are seriously overvaluing this deal in terms of helping htc and Samsung. Those companies are both very worried now.

Google also wants motorola because they are one of the big two in cable set top boxes and they want to use this to expand google tv and YouTube.

 

[eye]

Crappy OS maker buys crappy phone maker to make crappy cell phone legion of crappiness. Good times.

 

[neko girl]

Nice spin there Larry! Never mind the fact that Google actively tried to acquire all those patents for that very same purpose. Android's partners are now their competitors.

This is not a move I see Google ever pulling, sorry. You can argue that they might be happy to infringe on any number of patents, but suing for patents is not Google's style.

Also, it doesn't make sense why they'd sue their own partners for their own OS.

 

[inkswamp]

As soon as android exploded and the opposition started producing better phones than apple they started suing!

[...]

All i can say is lucky apple didn't invent the phone, mobile phone, computer or laptop or we would still be in the 90's.

Apple, you should try and beat the competition by making better phones not suing them!!

Apple started suing when the patents they filed related to the iPhone were approved so your theory about the timing is wrong.

Also, it's strange that you say Apple isn't competing when the "competition" are largely cloning Apple's products instead of coming up with their own ideas. It seems to me that the one company out there really competing in the true sense of that word is Apple. The others are not really competing but trying to jump on the bandwagon and copy the work of others to make a quick buck or two. Do you really consider that competing?

 

[haruhiko]

No matter how they spin it as a "protection" of Android, the losers will be Samsung (Loss of the throne of "No. 1" Android phone), and HTC (to a lesser extent).

 

[marksman]

Really? Any android forums I've been on, people are mostly talking about their android phones and aren't really snarking on people who like a phone with a competing OS. No one seems angry, obsessed, or evangelical at all.

Stop projecting. It's intellectually unhealthy.

Probanl because people who hate android devices don't gang out on those forums bashing them.

If this forum was only so lucky to be devoid of bashing time wasters.

If there are no haters on the android forums, unlike here, for example , that says all that needs to be said about it.

 

[parapup]

Crappy OS maker buys crappy phone maker to make crappy cell phone legion of crappiness. Crappy baseless post appears about it. Sad times.

There. Fixed that for ya.

 

[powers74]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Unfortunately, Google's philosophy is *not* about the user experience.

Rubbish. Remember the days before Google? Remember the cluttered search engines like Alta Vista? What did Google do? Present us with a minimalistic, easy to understand search engine. Usability is definitely something Google knows something about. Gmail is another example of how Google implemented a very sleek interface. And, more recently, Google+.

I wouldn't call either of those sleek. They aren't that easy to get used to either.

 

[aohus]

Samsung, HTC, LG shares are up from the Motorola acquisition news.

I think this should put to rest that Android handset makers should be worried over Motorola, as they shouldn't. Foxconn is up 14% as well, since they are key component makers for Motorola.

http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2011/08/15/android-makers-in-asia-rise-on-google-motorola-deal/

 

[JAT]

I'm only making an explicit comment that Google wouldn't 'shoot itself in the foot' by exclusively nurturing Motorola over Google's other partners in the smartphone industry. Like I said, we'll see whose right 4-6 months from now.

The deal won't even be done, then.

there are sensible members there who keep immature ones in check too.

We would have that here, but it isn't allowed. This forum is more open.
Ironic.

this kind of mindset is wrong. This 'us' vs 'them' mentality has got to stop.

Apple is going nowhere. Google is going nowhere. Competition will breed great innovation on both sides.

Why did you write two completely opposing paragraphs? Or are you saying you want innovation to stop?

Not really. I've been using both Windows and Mac for 20+ years. Microsoft's products have done more harm than good to the world of technology and innovation. Their monoculture has been a scourge. And quite frankly, I'm tired of being the go-to fix-it guy for friends and relatives who use that junk. Fortunately for me and them, the conversion to Macs has been quite widespread.

Pointing out the crappiness of Windows on a Mac forum is neither inflammatory nor unexpected. Too bad these threads are half full of Microsoft or Google fanboys telling us how crummy our platform of choice is.



I wish. I still have to use Windows 40 hours a week.

Amen.

 

[Millah]

Probanl because people who hate android devices don't gang out on those forums bashing them.

If this forum was only so lucky to be devoid of bashing time wasters.

If there are no haters on the android forums, unlike here, for example , that says all that needs to be said about it.

You can't go anywhere on the Internet without seeing haters. Claiming to "not see any haters" on Android forums is just foolish. that person is probably a hater themself and just selectively sees what he wants t o believe.

Haters exist on literally every single website that allows users to post comments. Trying to argue that all Android users are ALL 100% non-haters and don't spend time in Android forums hating on the iPhone is probably one of the most foolish things I've ever heard. Go on any Android dominated website, like Engadget or TechnoBuffalo, and ALL YOU SEE is Apple haters anytime an Apple news story is brought up. You don't even have to go on an Android site to see the Apple haters. They go on Apple sites to hate on Apple too. Now thats pathetic.

 

[aohus]

everyone is talking about patents, and what Motorola may/may not do, but everyone is forgetting the fact that Google just took over Motorola's set top box business.

I'm glad this will be replaced with a new Google UI.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

I do think we will see the following:

1. The Motorola-designed phones--which are actually not bad models--will lose the Motoblur interface enhancement and will become "pure Android experience" phones. That means the phones will get the latest Android update pretty quickly.

Motorola has already beat you to your own ideas! And they didn't even need Google's help! They've already lost the Motoblur on their newest devices. See Motorola Triumph.

2. We could see the Motorola phones become "universal" models that use a multimode cellphone chipset so it supports either GSM, CDMA or LTE "out of the box."

Already have come out with a world phone (except with Wimax instead of LTE). See Motorola Photon 4G.

 

[JayMBP]

I think the move of buying Moto is much the same as buying Youtube.

Youtube never turned any significant profit. As a matter of fact, it didn't even turned to positive territory until very recent.

Nevertheless, as Google's business model goes, it was necessary. Youtube is now the second largest search engine after Google itself.

Motorola probably won't make much profit for Google in the short run, but for Google's business model for the Android, it's a necessary move.

 

[SoftDel]

All this patent stuff makes me depressed,

I'm sure things will settle down eventually.

I'm just glad that the company who make my phone aren't under legal pressure, and tend to stay out the news.

 

[Tanguyvd]

Google just won.

if they got HTC... i think that would be the case.
but actually Apple 'returning' to the 'underdog' is not such a bad move...

to my knowledge, the bigger you get, the less you need to be inovative

 

[MonkeySee....]

I was on apple for a few years (3GS and 4) and am now on SGS2.

Apple used to laugh at googles tiny customer base, limited number of apps etc.

As soon as android exploded and the opposition started producing better phones than apple they started suing!

I note that they have attacked samsung first because they are the main threat (the SGS2 is better that the iphone 4 and probably 5 and the ipad will be passed in the next 6 months if it hasn't already.

All i can say is lucky apple didn't invent the phone, mobile phone, computer or laptop or we would still be in the 90's.

Apple, you should try and beat the competition by making better phones not suing them!! Give the people quicker processors, bigger screens, sd cards, flash, no crappy itunes etc etc.

Wow.

So in your expert opinion, Why do you think the SGS2 is better than a phone that isn't out yet and no specs released either?

Some people really do hate Apples success. Its quite amusing.

 

[Simmerl]

Please, don't feed the troll.