Motorola Mobility loses $32 million as Xoom sales collapse in Q3

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 51
    "Motorola's stated objectives indicate that Google was really trying to prevent Motorola from suing other Android licensees itself."



    Google paid 12B to stop Motorola suing other Android manufacturers? This is the first time I've heard this. Sounds nuts to me. If this is their strategy going forward, it will get expensive
  • Reply 42 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OldMacGuy View Post


    I don't get it. The iPad is only a passing fancy. No one wants to spend so much money on a toy. People are really strange.



    Put an iPad into the hands of someone who has never used one, and you've started a chain of new buyers. The damn thing is just addictive.



    Addictive? Absolutely! True story just last weekend:



    We had a small get together with some friends, and my best bud's sister and husband. The guy's a big tech-head and MSIE certified.... however to his credit runs Linux and Ubuntu. Just a thorough know-it-all, even though I won 50 bucks on a bet, "what was the first internet browser"... whatever.



    He knew EVERYTHING about Apple: closed-garden, toys for newbies, exorbitant over-pricing, greedy, SJ was evil and just a great salesman and knew nothing about tech, what's the big deal with his death, etc., etc.



    So it comes time to show our vacation pictures, and my buddy whips out his iPad2, and amid condescending guffawing laughter from our guest, proceeds to give a nice show on his 52" TV. Then I do the same. Then we start playing Real Racing, pull away and check our mail notifications, go to the web, I had to check a login on my FTP server, went to the web to "prove my winning bet", .... THEN the guy says, "let me take a look at that.



    The beginning of the end! We couldn't pry the thing outa the guys hands... gave him a basic run down on a few programs, how to do things... the typical 10 Minute training. Asked all kinds of questions... and we finally went to the Apple site to check prices. Got him! I heard that he received his very own iPad on Wednesday!



    PS. I forgot to mention the part where he showed their vacation pics on a Dell 15" Inspiron with Ubuntu... which he was quite proud of. Great pictures, but wow was that ever pathetic tapping arrow keys on the kitchen table from behind the notebook. We were gracious though... and really, he can do some neat things with a camera



    Can't wait to sell him up to an iMac installation in I'd say... in about a month



    PSS. SJ RIP... and Apple, thanks for making my consulting/installation biz this easy!
  • Reply 43 of 51
    shompashompa Posts: 343member
    "the company "will hold a special meeting of stockholders on Nov. 17, 2011, to seek stockholder approval of the proposed merger with Google."



    Nov 18: Apples sues Google for Android that uses iPhone Patents.



    BTW.

    Ericsson is bought by Sony for 1 billion.

    Motorola got 12.5 billion.



    Strange world.



    Ericsson is one of the few Android vendors that don't pay protection fee to MSFT since Ericsson have some of the strongest patents in the mobile industry.
  • Reply 44 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mjtomlin View Post


    a few problems here...



    Amazon does not release numbers, so a blog stating that the Fire is selling like hot cakes is not proof of anything. Furthermore, this is the Holiday season. Like with the Kinect, of course these new devices will outpace the sales of a device released at the end of the winter quarter in March or April! That should be a no brainer.



    If Amazon is selling millions of them, no one knows for sure whether this will help Amazon or actually hurt Amazon. They're taking a loss on the hardware in the hopes of selling content. The problem is, if someone was really interested a tablet, they would buy an iPad... plain and simple.



    Anyone who cannot afford an iPad and choose to buy a much cheaper Fire tablet - a new type of device they may not know they'll like or not - are they really willing to pay for content? So far, the answer to that is a resounding, NO. Android users have thus far been resistant to purchasing content and instead prefer ad-supported freebies.



    What everyone has failed to notice about Apple and their user base, is that the users are in fact willing to pay not only for the devices, but also the content. No other company has been able to crack this market like Apple has, and I really don't see Amazon doing this either.



    Original iPads are selling for a little more than $300 on eBay, a small markup for a much better ecosystem and a much better tablet.



    The only people that might be interested in a Fire, is a current Kindle user who wishes their device could do a bit more.



    I'm surprised nobody has responded to this. It's probably one of the most brilliant and thoughtful analyses of the topic of iPad vs. Fire. I have yet to hear a single tech writer approach it from this angle and I think you're dead-on. Amazon appears to be terribly misguided to think people buying cheap tablets will be willing to offset that loss with massive content purchases. Amazon is definitely taking a big risk with that.
  • Reply 45 of 51
    tofinotofino Posts: 697member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    Snip



    The people in charge of Motorola are clueless idiots, and the Xoom is proof of that. And if the leadership of Motorola is made up of clueless morons, then what might the people who actually bought a Xoom be? That's quite easy, they're even dumber.



    you gotta give those 'clueless morons' credit for blackmailing the mighty google into paying 12 billion dollars for a mostly money losing company though. They might be inept at building tablets, but that was well played, don't you think?



  • Reply 46 of 51
    Stating that Xoom sales 'collapsed' suggests they actually sold well at some point.
  • Reply 47 of 51
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hurtle24 View Post


    "Motorola's stated objectives indicate that Google was really trying to prevent Motorola from suing other Android licensees itself."



    Google paid 12B to stop Motorola suing other Android manufacturers? This is the first time I've heard this. Sounds nuts to me. If this is their strategy going forward, it will get expensive



    It is based on Icahn saying that Motorola was going to start monetizing its patent portfolio to gain an advantage over other handset makers. Likewise, Motorola then said they were going to go back to making WP7 handsets.



    less than 2 weeks later, Google paid a huge amount for MMI.
  • Reply 48 of 51
    ruel24ruel24 Posts: 432member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nagromme View Post


    She couldn?t name any benefits of the Xoom over the iPad. She just knows that Apple = evil and Google = good. She loves her Android phone, too, with the battery that?s dead by lunch and the apps that confuse her and crash



    I hope these Xooms keep getting software updates to Android 4.0 and beyond... yeah, right. More abandoned Android devices, obsolete before you finish paying for them...



    Enter the ROM market... Cyanogenmod is undoubtedly working on an update to the Xoom. However, it still doesn't make up for crappy hardware to begin with.



    Whoever came up with this Apple = evil, Google = good crap? People trust a company that snooped on people's wifi as they drove through their neighborhood taking pictures? What did wifi have to do with taking pictures in the first place? Apple protects its users. That's what people are afraid of? The App Store isn't full of viruses and malware like the Android Market is!
  • Reply 49 of 51
    Moforora pfoom!
  • Reply 50 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Psych_guy View Post


    You mean like all those iPod copies that nobody sold.



    Point taken. But the iPod (and the few other music players) is slowly being subsumed by the iPhone.
  • Reply 51 of 51
    Okay, so the first thing I would point out is that amazon is not taking a loss on the fire. This has been know for a little while. They don't make much profit per tablet but they are not taking a loss.



    Secondly, amazon doesn't need to confirm sells they know the sales by the number of componits ordered





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mjtomlin View Post


    a few problems here...







    Amazon does not release numbers, so a blog stating that the Fire is selling like hot cakes is not proof of anything. Furthermore, this is the Holiday season. Like with the Kinect, of course these new devices will outpace the sales of a device released at the end of the winter quarter in March or April! That should be a no brainer.



    If Amazon is selling millions of them, no one knows for sure whether this will help Amazon or actually hurt Amazon. They're taking a loss on the hardware in the hopes of selling content. The problem is, if someone was really interested a tablet, they would buy an iPad... plain and simple.



    Anyone who cannot afford an iPad and choose to buy a much cheaper Fire tablet - a new type of device they may not know they'll like or not - are they really willing to pay for content? So far, the answer to that is a resounding, NO. Android users have thus far been resistant to purchasing content and instead prefer ad-supported freebies.



    What everyone has failed to notice about Apple and their user base, is that the users are in fact willing to pay not only for the devices, but also the content. No other company has been able to crack this market like Apple has, and I really don't see Amazon doing this either.



    Original iPads are selling for a little more than $300 on eBay, a small markup for a much better ecosystem and a much better tablet.



    The only people that might be interested in a Fire, is a current Kindle user who wishes their device could do a bit more.



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