Google CEO Larry Page: “It’s a well known fact that people tend to overestimate the impact technology will have in the short term, but underestimate its significance in the longer term. Many users coming online today may never use a desktop machine, and the impact of that transition will be profound – as will the ability to just tap and pay with your phone. That’s why it’s a great time to be in the mobile business, and why I’m confident Dennis and the team at Motorola will be creating the next generation of mobile devices that will improve lives for years to come.” Strong hint that the Motorola purchase isn’t so much about current devices and patents as it is about acquiring the hardware know-how for the device form factors of the future.
“Strong hint that the Motorola purchase isn’t so much about current devices and patents as it is about acquiring the hardware know-how for the device form factors of the future.”
Somehow I’m not sure hardware know-how was worth the billions google paid for it if it weren’t for the patents as well. Without the patents google would have no hope of going it alone regardless of their ability against competitors who are willing and able to use patent cases to stifle the market. So I still think patents were a primary motivation for the purchase. Given google’s ambitions for the consumer device market, I suspect it was the right move.
Google Tv + Digital Cable Box = product worth buying
Heck, if they do that it might even convince me to pay for cable.
Google would not spend 12 billions $ for patents, especially given most of them are FRAND encumbered, and Motorola has been unable to make good use of their patents to defend themselves.
However, Google has been looking for way to integrate better hardware development with the android development, with partnership like the G1. But they do lack the knowledge to do it on their own, building that knowledge would take years, and the billions spend on Motorola is definitely a shortcut.
As for the patents, they do offer some protection, but they are definitely not the driving factor.
http://www.brianshall.com/content/google-supercharged-about-motorol…
To be fair to Google, every press release is just a compulsory act for the media and mostly propaganda crap.
…and here I was, thinking Siegler was about as silly as the Apple fanatics got.
Then I learned about Brian.
Edited 2012-05-22 22:30 UTC
Wow. Some people will believe anything.
Also known as “make stuff up in an unsuccessful attempt at being funny”.
Really, that’s pretty sad.
A very good day indeed.
Is Google going to use it against MS racket now?
The motorola of maybe a decade ago is not the same shape as it is today. Motorola has been spinning off and splitting to save what is left for the last 10 years,.
I’d say it’s good that Motorola Solutions (“public services, gov – I think also military – communications equipment”) division of Motorola was spun off – would we really want Skyne^H^H^H^H^HGoogle having control over that?
Edited 2012-05-29 18:51 UTC
It was one of those fat bricks that you didn’t bother keeping in your jeans pockets all day long. Early days. I remember replacing it with a cheap Nokia after a few years, and then I understood why Nokia had become such a successful company: it had almost nothing of what made the Motorola such a painful gadget in every imaginable way (adding the latest incoming phone number to the address book? Not quite impossible any more, in fact really easy). Nokia knew something about human interaction, whereas Motorola had no fucking clue. The phone was still far too big, though.
Later, Motorola disappeared from the Scandinavian market, and it wasn’t until 2011 I came to consider it again, this time with Android. The Defy+ looked like a decent device for its price: good screen size in a small device, good CPU speed, poor camera but then again cheap. It also came with Gingerbread, which I noticed Motorola hadn’t upgraded the original Defy to — despite it being practically identical except with a lower clock speed. The encrypted bootloader ensured it would stay at Froyo forever, too, and of course the Defy+ would never get ICS. It’s forced into obsolescence before its even taken off the market, and the infamous MotoBlur doesn’t make things better. Motorola evolved from being everything I hated in gadgetry then to be everything I hate in gadgetry now. I hope Google turns them around 180^A°.
From what I understand, more than a few bad managers are getting the axe soon. The ones responsible for things like locked boot loaders and the like. Plus, the ones in charge of random useless money bleeding products and services.
Let’s hope that includes Motoblur…
(even if it has some good ideas, people behind them might as well work on mainline Android now)
Well, the questions is, of course, if there will be any change in this regard. I surely hope so; I own a Defy, and while CM7 works kind of OK, I still get lower battery life than I got from the official Froyo release, even if the kernel is the same. A proper ICS release from Motorola (a.k.a. Google) would be very welcome.
As a side note, at least here in Hungary, T-Mobile puts vanilla Android on Defy; I don’t even know what MotoBlur looks like.
Edited 2012-05-23 05:44 UTC
Many people at my place (a hop across the Baltic from yours), when voicing their preference for Nokia, specifically focused on ease of use (and quite a few mentioned bad experiences with Motorola UI)
Too bad the progress of handsets (their new possibilities) apparently sort of outgrew that nice Nokia UI of old days, the times of S30 and early S40.
Edited 2012-05-29 23:54 UTC
THIS is DEFINITELY it patents have Nothing to do with this acquisition. The fact that they’ve already using them as a weapon in 3-4 different cases even before the acquisition is totally irrelevant.
Some good insight Thom approaching Thurrott levels.
Hi bowkota, I highlighted the relevant bits that will help with your further studies in basic English comprehension. You should AT LEAST get a B- in your exam. Hope it helps.
Edited 2012-05-23 06:12 UTC