Image via CrunchBaseSupercharging Android The Google workforce nearly doubles in size with this acquisition, and Google has been a pioneer of sorts in terms of corporate culture. I wonder how Google will eat and digest the Motorola workforce. It better do it with style if this acquisition is to prove magical.
This acquisition is also looking good on Apple and Steve Jobs. The idea that software and hardware has to happen in house is Steve Jobs' idea. Google just bought into that. That makes the iPhone more not less attractive. The iPhone remains the flagship smartphone. But I hope Google does one better. I believe in Android.
The Google thing to do would be to make the hardware much, much cheaper and go global in a big way. Search ads on Android should subsidize hardware costs. Cheaper will sell more. Make money on volume. Or, hey, make money from search.
Motorola on its own is too small a presence in the handset space for this move to be a major threat to the other Android handset players. I believe Larry Page when he says this move is primarily to bolster the entire Android ecosystem.
Ars Technica: What Google lost—and gained—by not buying Motorola in 2010
Would the deal have been cheaper if Big G had just purchased a handset maker back in January 2010 rather than launching the ill-fated Nexus One instead? .... When the Nexus One was introduced, Motorola sported a market cap of about $10.6 billion. That's for the entire Motorola beast, including the infrastructure and enterprise operations that later became Motorola Solutions. .... Google could have saved a truckload of cash by getting into the hardware game much earlier. ...... With this acquisition safely under its vest from an early date, Google could have kept that zig-zagging firmly under control and in-house, while also clamping down on the much-maligned Android fragmentation issues. ...... a stronger, Moto-powered patent portfolio might have encouraged Apple to keep its litigious fingers away from Samsung and HTC. Google could have been an official white knight standing by to help any handset designer in Apple's crosshairs. ....... buying Motorola Mobility makes Google a truer copy of the Apple business model. No longer a hands-off software provider with no financial interest in handset sales, Google now needs to worry about hardware implementation and direct profits. This two-headed beast will deliver the purest Android experience on the market ....... Android just changed in a big way. And if Google had made this move a year ago, the market would look very different today in that unpredictable way that makes hurricanes out of fluttering butterfly wings.TechCrunch: “Defending Android”
Google is pulling off an acquisition that is larger than any that Microsoft, Apple, or any of their other main competitors ever have. Larry Page, wartime CEO. Larry Page, maverick....... I actually took the entire day to think about this, read over the insane amount of coverage ....... this is either the smartest thing Google has ever done, or the dumbest. There is no in-between. ...... They have over 19,000 employees. This nearly doubles Google’s workforce (Google has about 25,000 employees). This is a company in the midst of several of their own lawsuits — some of which are by Google adversaries Microsoft and Apple. ...... a big, logistical mindfuck for Google. ..... with the Motorola buy, Google gains at least 17,000 patents. And if some other applications go through, perhaps as many as 25,000 patents. In one fell-swoop. Crazy. ........ raises Google’s patent pool from around 2,000 — over 1,000 of which are from a deal they just did with IBM — to around 20,000. That’s around what Microsoft has. And nearly double what Apple has. Deterrent obtained, right? ...... Motorola’s patent pool may not go far enough to cancel out some key patents owned by Google’s main rivals ...... both Apple and Microsoft were suing Motorola well before this new deal was born. ..... Google may have bought Motorola to stop them from settling with Apple and/or Microsoft on the patent issues. Such a settlement would have been a big blow to the entire Android ecosystem. Perhaps not quite as bad as Samsung agreeing to license patents from Microsoft (joining HTC and others), but bad. ........ Motorola was threatening to attack others over IP itself just a few days ago, does suggest something was brewing. They sounded like an animal backed into a corner. ...... leading up to Google’s deal, Microsoft was also negotiating to buy at least Motorola’s patent portfolio ...... Google now has another stick to use when the carrots don’t work. And the carrots rarely do in the Android ecosystem ...... the existence of Motorola as a Google company is going to affect Android. ...... In the same way that Google used to not care about design, but now is starting to, I suspect they’ll start to care more about full control over their products — both hardware and software. ........ Google’s acquisition of Motorola today either just saved Android or subverted it. It was either brilliant, or really, really stupid. Unfortunately, the truth is that we simply won’t know the answer for a whileBloomberg: RIM Left in ‘No Man’s Land’ By Google Deal
Google’s proposed $12.5 billion acquisition would leave RIM a smaller player relative to rivals, which may force it to strike an alliance with another company or sell itself to remain competitive ...... RIM is losing market share as consumers turn to mobile phones that can run games, surf the Web and handle other computing tasks. ...... RIM rose 10 percent yesterday on the Google news, which may indicate investors think the chances of an acquisition are increasing ...... Google’s move may prompt Apple, Samsung or Microsoft to go after RIM for its intellectual property .... RIM is highly unlikely to emerge a winner in the technology race. I don’t think their patent portfolio is likely to cover the most cutting-edge technology. The breadth of what Motorola has developed is orders of magnitude higher.”Bloomberg: Google Threatens Samsung-Led Handset Makers
the $206.6 billion mobile-phone market. ....... “Google has gone from partner to competitor.” ..... “We’ve managed our ecosystem really well, and we’re going to continue to do that,” Google Chief Executive Officer Larry Page said in an interview yesterday. “They know we’re committed to them and we’re committed to making that whole ecosystem successful.” .......... Android partners are poised to benefit from the patent protection provided by the deal. ...... Google will use the portfolio as leverage in negotiations over cross-licensing deals ...... Backing by Google may help Motorola Mobility grab global mobile-device market share. It currently ranks No. 8, with just a 2.4 percent share ...... Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker has said he plans to license WebOS software to hardware makers. ..... “They’re all talking like it’s one big happy family,” said Kumar of Roadman & Renshaw. “The reality will be far different. If Motorola has most favored nation status -- whether in perception or reality -- it has an edge.”New York Times: Is Google Turning Into a Mobile Phone Company? No, It Says
when Mr. Jobs finally saw Google’s phone he was “furious” and “concluded he was a victim of deceit” ...... For consumers, however, a proprietary phone would finally make Google’s Android system vertically integrated, creating an end-to-end system that may allow it to better compete against the iPhone, which has long been heralded because Apple has been able to control all aspects of the phone, from software to hardware. ...... Mr. Page, after all, was the executive who personally pursued the acquisition of Android and has been its biggest proponent. And he pressed Google to compete in federal auctions for wireless spectrum in recent years at a time when others were more hesitant — and in some cases was willing to overpay for spectrum. ...... “Larry is a big ambitious guy; he will roll big dice.” ...... InterDigital, a licensing company that owns some 8,000 wireless patents and has another 10,000 patent applications being processed, has been up for auction. Many industry insiders were sure that if Google were serious about acquiring a portfolio of patents, InterDigital would be its target. The company’s market value is only about $3 billion and it doesn’t come with all the baggage of Motorola’s handset business.Reuters: Taiwan's HTC sues Apple over patents
HTC Corp sued Apple Inc, claiming infringement of three patents through Apple's sale of Macintosh computers, iPads, iPods, iPhones and other devices. ..... seeks to halt Apple's importation and sale of infringing products in the United States ..... complaint escalates the legal battle between the companies. Apple has accused HTC of patent infringement through its smartphones, and filed several patent lawsuits against the Taiwan-based company in Delaware in the last two years. ..... HTC filed its lawsuit one day after Google Inc agreed to pay $12.5 billion in cash for Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc to gain access to thousands of patents and help protect its fast-growing Android mobile operating system.VentureBeat: HTC turns tables on Apple, sues iPod maker for patent violation
Now this is how patent warfare is conducted: Taiwan-based HTC has filed a lawsuit against Apple, Inc. for patent violations throughout its lineup of consumer electronics devices. ..... the suit is merely defense against Apple’s long-waged patent lawsuit against HTC. ..... The Apple-instigated suit targeted pretty much every HTC mobile phone on the market at the time, and some of the patents named had only been issued the month before. Apple was seeking a permanent injunction on the sale of HTC phones in the U.S., which clearly hasn’t happened yet.
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