

Google: We’ve acquired Motorola Mobility - JOfferijns
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/weve-acquired-motorola-mobility.html

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mkr-hn
Google builds a search engine, forces the competition to start improving.

Google buys a webmail service, forces rapid improvements in the competition.

Google builds a browser, forces rapid improvements in the competition
(Firefox).

Google buys a smartphone OS, competition already doing ok but probably tweaked
some things.

Google starts building an inexpensive fiber network, makes incumbents sweat a
little.

Google buys a smartphone manufacturer, forces competition to improve.

Next up, probably a mobile telco provider.

Google's thing seems to be improving the transfer and display of ads. Somehow
they've turned that into a benefit to technology as a whole. It's a business
model built on disruption.

~~~
there
If only there were a struggling US mobile provider looking to be sold that
already had a large Android user base...

~~~
redthrowaway
I wonder how long they could play that game before running afoul of antitrust
legislation.

~~~
debacle
As long as they wanted, as long as they weren't anticompetitive.

~~~
malandrew
... and operated below the market share (70%) that attracts antitrust
scrutiny.

In mobile OS, I think they can avoid being classified having 70% or anywhere
near it since Android is technically open source and anyone can fork it, and
several flavors such as the kindle version of Android aren't under their
control.

In the carrier space, they'd be far from owning a lot of market share.

They just need to make sure that if they acquire such power that they restrain
from anticompetitive practices afforded to them by their position.

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willvarfar
I hope Motorola sets a new course towards premium iPhone territory.

I've always found raw naked Android much nicer to use than the silly re-
skinning every manufacturer wastes time adding. Sense and blur are bad, but
Sony's Timescape was absolutely the low-point.

~~~
raverbashing
Yes

One thing I learned from HW manufacturer is that they _absolutely don't get SW
development_

Zero, zilch, nada, NULL

Hence, this results in wasting (a lot of) time with BS projects, lots of NIH
syndrome, design by committee, etc

I've heard and seem a lot of stories, I've worked in certain companies and I
vowed never to work again there.

They waste million of dollars thinking CrapCase and other "irrational" tools
are ok.

And that's why Cyanogenmod releases upgrades quicker than the manufacturers.

~~~
esrauch
It isn't really a fair comparison; Cyanogenmod has no legal liability for
releasing flawed upgrades.

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ceejayoz
Do carriers? The contract I signed with AT&T was pretty onerous.

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jrockway
_Do carriers? The contract I signed with AT &T was pretty onerous._

For you. For AT&T, it says they can come into your house and take any and all
children of yours whenever they want. They wrote the contract and you have no
choice but to agree, so they're certainly not going to go out of their way to
be nice to you. (Their logo is the frickin' Death Star, after all!)

~~~
ceejayoz
That's my point. They've set up the contracts so they don't have much more
legal liability for flawed upgrades than Cyanogenmod does.

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rjv
I thought this acquisition as was just about patents. As much as I would love
to see some true "Google hardware," I suspect it will be business as usual.

~~~
ChuckMcM
I still think this is the primary consideration in this acquisition. That
being said, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. When I was at
Google there was a lot of challenges to creating any sort of hardware (the
most capable of the groups was the Enterprise group that made the appliance
and they still had a hell of a time at it). It is a very different discipline
than 'iterate rapidly and ship early.'

For Google's sake I hope they can successfully run this business, or recognize
early enough that they can't. If it turns out that it isn't in their DNA to
run a hardware biz then it is important to re-spin it out before it dies from
mismanagement.

~~~
tseabrooks
This is kind of what I was thinking. I've worked at a HW / Consumer
Electronics (One of the big ones) and in many ways all of the comments around
here about HW companies not really getting SW are 100% true. However, I don't
think it's any less true that many of the SW folks around here have almost no
understanding of how HW development works.

~~~
ericd
What do you think a SW person interested in creating hardware as well would be
best served to learn? Is it just the results of the release cycles being so
much longer, or is it deeper than that?

~~~
kelnos
It's a _lot_ more than that. Developing and maintaining a supply chain,
shipping finished product, different testing strategies, different pre-release
design and prototyping strategies, regulatory approval (for anything that has
a radio, among other things)... and that's just a few things off the top of my
head.

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Jun8
Most people here focus on the handsets but Moto Mobility's business that
currently turns a profit is home (set top boxes and cable branch office
equipment) where Motorola is big. I heard that Google is trying to use this
advantage to boost GoogleTV but cable companies said they would boycott set
top boxes that are Google branded, since they see it as a great threat.

So the question is: will Google sell the Home division? If they do, this may
have _huge_ ramifications for the US cable landscape.

~~~
MBCook
In Kansas City, Google is laying it's gigabit fiber to the home.

Earlier this year, Google got regulatory approval to offer video over their
fiber service. [1]

Google TV and their fiber service could be a pretty amazing combination.
Getting to integrate the Motorola knowledge may make it better.

Or, Google could try to push Google TV onto the companies who buy the Motorola
boxes (through discounting/subsidies).

[1]
[http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2012/03/16/kansas...](http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2012/03/16/kansas-
regulators-say-google-can-offer.html)

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spinchange
It looks like they're putting in place some serious hitters in the Moto
executive suite alongside Woodside. If it weren't for all the focus on
patents, I would think these guys are serious about building hardware/consumer
products.

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LaaT
I suspect other phone manufacturers will be less eager to invest in Android as
a platform. Symbian's ownership was a huge problem back in the day. We will
see a repeat of the drama I am afraid.

~~~
samuellevy
Samsung at least seems to have far too much invested in Android now to
consider dropping it (hell, they're making the best-selling android phones on
the market).

This isn't a surprise for anyone, though. They have been working towards this
purchase for a while, so if any of the manufacturers were likely to baulk at
it, they already would have done so.

Here's hoping that google puts out some great handsets, and makes this a real
game-changing move.

~~~
dagw
Samsung is however also investing in Tizen. So while I doubt they have any
plans of dropping Android, I wouldn't be surprised if they have people working
on plans on to handle a situation where doing so becomes expedient.

~~~
bad_user
Samsung makes great phones, but they suck at software and at creating a
developer community around their software.

I don't see how this is going to change.

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DonnyV
Whats the worst thing that could happen? All the manufactures drop Android?
Good, then we will get an official, not messed with, Android phone directly
from Google. I see only good in this.

~~~
dagw
If that happens then Androids market share will quickly drop below that of
WP7, most developers will react accordingly, WP7 will be the new Android and
Android will be the new Meego. You might see that as a good thing, but I think
many will disagree.

~~~
nextparadigms
You're grossly underestimating how many "Android" fans are out there, how many
blogs promoting Android, and so on. The Android ecosystem is quite large.
About as large as Apple's. They wouldn't just "leave Android". If anything
people will treat Google even more like a cult, as Apple users treat Apple and
their products.

If the Google Glasses are successful, that sort of loyalty to Google will only
increase, like it did for Apple with the iPhone, then with the iPad, and so
on.

~~~
dagw
See I'm honestly not that sure that there are than many true Android fans out
there. While Android phones probably outnumber iPhones among my circle of
friends by a good 3:1, I don't know if many of them are really fans. Certainly
not in the way people are fans of their iPhones. Most of them (including me)
bought Android because you got a pretty good smart phone with a good ecosystem
for a lot less than an iPhone, or because they preferred the hardware (larger
screen, smaller screen, keyboard etc.), or often some combination of the two.
"Android" is just an incidental detail that enables the above.

~~~
enko
> not in the way people are fans of their iPhones

I think this whole Apple Cult thing is pretty overblown. Sure there may be a
noisy minority who give that impression but I sure don't know any. I have an
iPhone because I considered it the best choice but I'm hardly a raving iPhone
zealot. I hate the closed ecosystem too, and resent that I have to chose
between a high quality user experience (by my taste) and a more free
environment.

I don't really know anyone who fits into the stereotype of an unconditional
raving iPhone fan, and this amongst a social circle which is basically
exclusively iPhone.

~~~
freehunter
I actually got myself into some trouble when I said that a Blackberry isn't
really a smartphone by today's standards at a friend's party. Someone else
there was apparently pretty proud of her Blackberry, and seemed willing to
defend to the death her Blackberry Curve that she got for free on contract. I
had to back down from that statement for fear that I would be bludgeoned to
death with an outdated business device.

This has almost nothing to do with your point, just that there are rabid fans
for everything you could think of.

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fallenhitokiri
Please correct me if I am wrong since I am not sure if I got all facts right.

Motorola is currently holding a patent on push technology. One of our courts
in Germany stopped iCloud from pushing due to patent infringements. Now that
Google bought Motorola Mobility do they own they patent?

If this would be the fact I would predict that we will see more lawsuits
against Apple regarding this one patent. Sounds like a great weapon - forcing
your competitor to kill one of the interesting parts of a service they use for
advertisement.

~~~
abrahamsen
Apple is currently suing all the major Android makers, including Motorola.

Best case scenario: Googles new weapons will lead to a series of broad cross-
license agreements, which will end the mobile patent wars.

~~~
fallenhitokiri
I think there is just too much money you can make if you win the mobile patent
wars.

Wasn't Google making more money with patent payments from Apple than they make
with Android?

~~~
drivebyacct2
Huh? Microsoft is making more off of Android than WP7 (almost surely based on
easy rough math)

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zerostar07
I want my Google MotoGlasses special kit for the GoogleCar now.

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DigitalSea
There aren't many more industries Google can buy into and conquer, or are
there? Coming soon: Google Oil Co and Google Power. I wonder what happens once
Google have run out of markets to enter? Lets face it, Motorola were a
struggling company finding it hard to keep up with the likes of Apple, lets
see what Google can do and only hope their efforts are better than the time
they launched Google+ and tried competing with Facebook.

~~~
mbell
> Google Power

They have already made strong investments in developing geo-thermal power.

~~~
DigitalSea
Ah, touché they have too. I forgot about their foray into both geo-thermal and
solar power.

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kephra
Lets hope, that Google stops Motorola to produce the most crappy androids. An
android phone that is for the trashcan, at the moment you buy it, because its
not possible to exchange the kernel to fix long known security bugs.

And lets also hope that Google allows to update Kernels of old Motorola
phones, also.

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csears
I hope this means Android updates will no longer take 6-12 months to roll out
to Motorola phones.

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fierarul
I expect some interesting announcement for Google I/O.

~~~
objclxt
Maybe, but not because of the acquisition and maybe not due to Motorola: it is
standard practice for companies that are acquired to operate completely
independently until the deal closes and gets full regulatory approval, which
would be today.

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obilgic
I like their header design/animation...

~~~
bhaile
Didn't see it until you mentioned it. Good design. Could improve on their
physics being applied to the ball motions and their bounce but cool stuff.

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tbundy
Looking forward to 'droids that raise the bar. Android/Sense bit rot is
horrible!

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smagch
Google bought Motorola just because ballmer said android isn't free?
<http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/03/android-isnt-free/>

