Google announces plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5B

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  • Reply 21 of 236
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ksec View Post


    No, they didn't bought Motorola because of building Andriod Devices or making hardware etc. They brought Moto because of their HUGE patents portfolio.



    I have always called for Apple to acquire Moto. They have a gigantic no. of patents relating to Tele communication, much more then Nortel or Nokia.



    Give this man a cigar!
  • Reply 22 of 236
    Google, prepare to pay many fees on the patents you bid 'pi' on.
  • Reply 23 of 236
    wovelwovel Posts: 956member
    Google claims they will operate Motorolla Mobility and Android separately. It seems the only reason to buy a failed mobile manufacturer is the IP, unless you planned to leverage your software.
  • Reply 24 of 236
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stelligent View Post


    I wonder what was more appealing to GOOG - the control of hardware design or Motorola's patent portfolio?



    Or maybe they just really really hated Motoblur I'm seeing a lot of jubilation from android users that it will be gone forever on places like TIMN.
  • Reply 25 of 236
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Does anyone really think this was a play to get into first party hardware? That might happen, but it hardly seems to the main reason.



    Patents. Moto has lots of them. Google needs them. Having a channel for releasing their own 'tailored' hardware is secondary.
  • Reply 26 of 236
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stelligent View Post


    I wonder what was more appealing to GOOG - the control of hardware design or Motorola's patent portfolio?



    yup. patents.
  • Reply 27 of 236
    wovelwovel Posts: 956member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ksec View Post


    Google in their Press State it wont be a merge. Moto Mobility will runs as a separate unit. So business as usual. There will still be Moto Phones. It is only the owner changed hands.



    And of coz, the most important pieces is the on going battle between M$ and Moto on Andriod Patents issues.



    Also important was Motorolas plan to sue all of the other Android makers.
  • Reply 28 of 236
    This is nothing but a patent purchase. That is it.



    And it was a safe play for Google, because unlike Nortel/Novell's patent portfolio, there was no way Apple would be allowed to buy Motorola (anti-competitive reasons, since they are both handset makers).
  • Reply 29 of 236
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wovel View Post


    Also important was Motorolas plan to sue all of the other Android makers.



    Good point, Samsung and HTC may actually be happy that this happened - will be interesting to see how they respond.
  • Reply 30 of 236
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addicted44 View Post


    This is nothing but a patent purchase. That is it.



    And it was a safe play for Google, because unlike Nortel/Novell's patent portfolio, there was no way Apple would be allowed to buy Motorola (anti-competitive reasons, since they are both handset makers).



    Still, it is a lot of cash for a patent play, 3 times what the Apple consortium paid. They would want to be making some good returns for the shareholders after splashing that amount of cash.
  • Reply 31 of 236
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,255member
    This makes Android look even less appealing to other OEMs. At this point the so-called "Microsoft tax" must seem like a small price to pay to avoid all of the headaches of Android. Of course there's just one little problem -- in order to sell WP7 phones, consumers have to actually be willing to purchase them. So far consumer demand for WP7 has been positively Zune-like. Also, Microsoft is a fairly dysfunctional company at this point. Maybe it's because of the perceived weakness of WP7 that Google thinks it can get away with this. Heck, they're probably right.
  • Reply 32 of 236
    I think GOOG got suckered into this by a failing Motorola. This is not going to help Android against Oracle or Microsoft.

    It will be interesting to see if they will continue the lawsuit against Apple. That suit so far is not going so good for them.
  • Reply 33 of 236
    wovelwovel Posts: 956member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gchriste View Post


    Still, it is a lot of cash for a patent play, 3 times what the Apple consortium paid. They would want to be making some good returns for the shareholders after splashing that amount of cash.



    Bur, Motorolla was getting desperate. They have been losing money for a while now. There is a good chance they would have sued everyone involved in Android.



    The threats may well have been an attempt by their board to get purchased at a premium.
  • Reply 34 of 236
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    Fantastic news! Once this goes through Apple can start suing Google directly for their violations rather than the companies that ship their OS!
  • Reply 35 of 236
    doxxicdoxxic Posts: 100member
    It may be about patents, but it will definitely undermine 3rd party trust in Google.



    It will be very tempting to bring all new developments to Motorola devices first, because Google now can develop hardware and software together.
  • Reply 36 of 236
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gchriste View Post


    And if true, which I suspect it is, shows they think they were in a lot of trouble with there current position, enough to splash $12B at 63% premium worth!



    I guess we can now honestly say that they have paid to build Android! lol
  • Reply 37 of 236
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    *Yawn* ok well Larry and Sanjay just gave us the management blurb with no interesting comments. Larry said that other android makers were happy with the deal, but then he would. Lots of promises of amazing user experiences etc.



    Now for the Q&A session, hopefully somebody will ask something interesting
  • Reply 38 of 236
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wovel View Post


    Also important was Motorolas plan to sue all of the other Android makers.



    http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/11/s...ent-royalties/



    I think Jha's comments regarding possibly using their patents against other Andrdoid licensees was a message for Google during their acquisition negotiations. If google only wanted the patents (since they have never shown interest in their won hardware) they might have been lowballing their offers for moto. By publicly stating (though barely veiled) to sue other Android licensees, that would strongly motivate Google to up their bid. While Google' weak patent position hurts them and their partners in their competition against Apple and MS, even worse for the platform would be an Android civil war with every vendor expending resources suing, counter-suing and defending . If Google can get enough depth in the IP, then they can offer blanket coverage to their vendors and perhaps 'encourage' them not to fight amongst themselves.
  • Reply 39 of 236
    tawilsontawilson Posts: 484member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bageljoey View Post


    Bold move. I wonder what HTC and other Android using handset makers will think about this...



    Personally, I see this as the death of Android (or at least it's relegation as a minority OS).



    It's only popular because it's used a lot, and the incentive to use it will drastically reduce as everyone else plays second best to Google.



    I'm sure they'll attract heavy regulatory scrutiny too, should this be approved.



    http://roflbot.tumblr.com/post/89496...y-android-died



    It's not like Motorola Droids sold anything even close to that of the iPhone. Android's strength is in numbers, and they will drop FAST!
  • Reply 40 of 236
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Doxxic View Post


    It may be about patents, but it will definitely undermine 3rd party trust in Google.



    It will be very tempting to bring all new developments to Motorola devices first, because Google now can develop hardware and software together.



    Depends. If they provide these patents to all of their partners for use in their Android products, none of them are going to complain too much. If they hold them tight, then yeah, their partners are going to revolt.
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