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Motorola Takes Android To China, With Or Without Google

Posted by timothy on from the alternative-paths dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google's spat with China could affect Motorola as it vies to crawl back into the mobile market, but recent partnerships will allow it to pursue the Chinese mobile market alone. Circumventing the fallout, Motorola on Thursday introduced its own Android app store for China and a deal with Baidu, the leading search provider in China."

10 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Competition is good, Dell is already playing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Competition with Android in the Chinese marketplace is always a good thing. So far, even if Google doesn't play, Dell is already on the field, and I'm pretty sure HTC is in the game as well.

    What does this mean for Android? Good and bad. The good is that it gains exposure in the most up and coming nation in the world, with a lot of people climbing the career ladder from rice paddy to corner office. The bad is that the Android platform ends up more fragmented. Windows Mobile's weakness for a long time was no central app store where one could buy items for the phone, on the phone.

    Time will tell though. If Android fragments so much that apps have to be designed to deal with multiple Dalvik VMs, many hardware configurations, and many phones before the app can run, this will hamstring this platform's future. However, if Android apps are compatible to an extent, where it is almost certain that an app downloaded will run, then this might propel Android into a front runner smartphone platform.

    Android's competition isn't stopping. Apple's app store "just works" on all iPhone models (unless there is a specific feature like GPS or 3G an older model lacks.) RIM, Nokia, and Microsoft are not standing still either.

    1. Re:Competition is good, Dell is already playing by sabernet · · Score: 2, Informative

      However, Android being an open source Linux based OS, they'll just take it, change it and call it "Red Robot" or something with different PIMs then default(though, being China, likely direct ripoffs with the G logo changed to a Chinese flag). This won't affect its ability to be marketed in China at all.

  2. Android without Google by asdir · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does this mean, we might possibly see a version of Android that does not build on Google services? I was wondering for quite a time now, why handset-makers do not partner up with competitors of Google and make their own version of Android; or even better: let the consumer choose the services they activate for apps like maps, calendar, or e-mail. Or is there a technical obstacle I do not see here?

    1. Re:Android without Google by Calinous · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Google would be able to "diverge" its Android OS from the modifications made by the mobile phone operators - this would force them to rewrite their modifications from a version of Android to another, or to start back-porting into the version of Android they started with any change Google made.
            As for the simple solution "make our modifications available to any competitor by open sourcing them", good luck with that.

    2. Re:Android without Google by Jeeeb · · Score: 3, Informative

      Google would be able to "diverge" its Android OS from the modifications made by the mobile phone operators - this would force them to rewrite their modifications from a version of Android to another, or to start back-porting into the version of Android they started with any change Google made.

      Why would handset makers care about google "diverging" it's modifications? It's not like handset makers have exactly been known to care about keeping users up to date with the latest version. They could just take a snap shot of the Android code base make all the modifications they need and then run with it.

  3. One man's crisis is another man's opportunity by Katatsumuri · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Motorola should send Google flowers, or something.

  4. Re:Where's the bloody decency by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Funny

    +1, thanks for AGAIN bringing up the USA in a totally unrelated thread about China.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  5. Android != Google by salesgeek · · Score: 4, Informative

    Analysts still don't get that Android is no longer owned by Google. It is now owned by the Open Handset Alliance.

    --
    -- $G
  6. Errr, aren't these paragraphs backwards? by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let's see, late in the TFA it says this:

    Motorola stood to lose a significant amount of business if the issue had it waited for Google to enter the country.

    (Hey, I didn't edit the thing.) Anyway, that was preceded immediately by this:

    Android, developed originally by Google, is open source, meaning partners are free to use it even if Google decides not to support it.

    And so this is a story how? I propose a new headline: "Motorola Not Stupid (full story page B13)"

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  7. Re:Where's the bloody decency by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Assuming that it isn't a simple matter of Motorola wanting to sell more stuff and try not to go out of business, this could be a "Hey Google, thanks a whole fucking lot for getting together with HTC and releasing an even cooler phone, just when you and I and the Droid were looking like a happy family..." thing.