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Motorola's Identity Crisis
An anonymous reader writes "An article at the NY Times discusses the awkwardness of Google's recent purchase of Motorola Mobility, an acquisition widely thought to be motivated by Android patent concerns rather than a more straightforward business plan. From the article: 'While industry analysts and insiders say the rationale makes sense, they also say it leaves Motorola in an unusual position. ... Heightening the uncertainty is that the companies involved, both of which declined to comment, are in some ways as different as two technology companies can be. Google makes Internet services and software, thrives on high profit margins and distributes its product using giant data centers. Motorola makes hardware, has modest margins on a good day and moves its products on trucks and airplanes and through brick-and-mortar stores. ... "It's like, thanks for everything you did in the 20th century, but you're being bought by a search engine," said Roger Entner, a telecommunications industry analyst and founder of Recon Analytics, a market research firm. He added, "Nobody ever buys a company and leaves it alone."'"
The only linked article is behind a login screen, which makes this post pretty useless since I suspect very few of us will bother to register.
I have a Droid X, and while I constantly curse at the locked bootloader and lack of customization compared to many other Android devices, I've actually found that it consistently gets better reception than my brother's Galaxy S (both on Verizon) and FAR better battery life.
AT the end of the day, the fact is Motorola has been doing great things on the hardware side of Android phones. The more I've used other's phones, the more I've come to realize how good my phone is, despite the hatred for Blur that permeates the Android websites. And Blur sucks, don't get me wrong. It's gotten better than it used to be, but it still isn't great. And while you can hide the UI all you want, the underpinnings are always there mucking things up. But Motorola hardware coupled with Google software? Yes, please! This could turn out amazing. With the vertical integration that Apple enjoys, Motorola/Google might be able to build a phone with the same start-to-finish polish as the iPhone, but much more open. I'm excited to see what will happen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/technology/after-google-motorola-to-face-identity-crisis.html?ref=google&pagewanted=all
for one thing Google will have a hard time getting a backdoor into the cable industry by buying Motorola Mobility. The cable providers have a lot of power and are loaded with old boxes that can't even run any kind of new web based GUI.
Maybe they can push some change on the cell phone side.
Being purchased by a search engine might be a bit of a shock for people used to producing tangible goods; but I suspect that it beats being purchased by some M&A vulture capital group and chopped up into parts for resale...
Here's my guess of what happens:
Google buys Moto Mobility for the patents.
Google then spins off MM's hardware division, with a full license to the patents obtained, but with Google retaining ownership and control of the patents
That way Google gets the defensive patent pile without the negatives of competing with their licensees and entering the (less pleasant) hardware business.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Victor Kayam? But then he really liked the razor.
Google pretty much had to buy out MM. That, or when Apple or MS buys them out, face an influx of patent lawsuits over everything Android.
However, what may be an issue are the two differing philosophies of the two companies:
Motorola's has been to lock down their devices in hopes of getting modders to go elsewhere. This makes people toss their phones when they can't run the latest apps and buy new ones.
Google wants to keep devices unlocked so they can push updates and show how consistent Android is.
Both of these are diametric opposites, because a locked phone that can't be upgraded looks bad for Android to an average consumer.
Now Google is in a pinch. They now compete against the same companies they are trying to woo to Android, and not go to WP7 or their own OS.
Google has four choices for the most part:
1: Sell phones by Motorola and compete against HTC, ZTE, and Samsung who may just get tired of Android and go completely WM like Nokia.
2: Sell MM, keeping the patents.
3: Spin MM off as a separate company.
4: Just shut down MM entirely.
Of all the choices, the most likely one is #3, as it allows Google to be "neutral" again.
I believe this is the link on the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/technology/after-google-motorola-to-face-identity-crisis.html
The patents are the only thing of value to Google. They don't need a hardware company and they probably shouldn't be in the hardware business. They should be encouraging a plethora of hardware manufacturers to make Android devices. The employees of Motorola are a stodgy, old-line engineering crowd, not really a good fit for Google. Overall it seems like a bad match except for the IP.
Maybe Google can prop up Moto Mobility just long enough to come out with a refreshed line of competitive handsets and tablets, and then spin them off to Nokia or Rim or some other phone maker who is eager to acquire an Android portfolio. Maybe not Nokia, actually, since they've pretty much thrown in their lot with Microsoft.
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
Seems like there has been a lot of activity lately trying to put android/google in a bad light. Oracle vs. google, Apple vs. Samsung, Apple vs. HTC, to NYTimes pimping out negative views on Motorola acquisition. I don't agree with everything google does but it's not they are doing anything new from a monopoly standpoint. One of the aforementioned companies is even suing based on alleged evidence tampering which, IMO, should be getting much more attention than what it is.
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Ericsson and Sony had this moment too, but many years ago. The merger between former rivals' mobile phone divisions was a very distressful situation for all involved. Motorola is the latest to succumb to globalizations.
"Nobody ever buys a company and leaves it alone."
Pixar.
I see two reasons for Google having bought Motorola.
The first, and the one that everyone is citing most often, is the patent protection that they can now give Android. I must say that I do find it sad that people are so keen to destroy free software. To businesses it is of course a threat, but when you see fanboys and girls jumping and down with glee at the legal actions being brought before the system, I can't help but shake my head. Not everyone wants or can afford to part with huge volumes of cash for an iPhone, a system that is so locked down you might as well be licensing usage of the thing from Apple, rather than own it yourself.
Second, and the one I've seen less talk of, is the ability for Google to have Motorla build them some flagship phones for Android. As much as I love my HTC Desire, there are several things that annoy the hell out of me
1. It runs Android 2.2. There is no easy way to upgrade it to 2.3.4 (or whatever comes out next), without either rooting or doing some other hacking. This needs to be fixed, as the average man on the street can't be stuck with a device for 2+ years because the manufacturer hasn't made enough provisions to allow the Android system to be upgraded (allowing for things such as better performance and better battery life).
2. The dreaded low internal memory issue. Seriously, who thought (and still thinks) that giving the users access to 128MB of internal storage would be enough? Sure, we can shove in an SD card, but if most useful apps refuse to move over, you're basically screwed. I've currently got 11MB free on the internal memory and over 20GB free on my microSD. This is bonkers. Hopefully, a Google phone would have at least 8GB internal and support microSD.
3. Open is both Android's best asset and it's main problem. Manufacturers and service providers not happy with Vanilla Android? Hack ten tons of irremovable shit onto the phone and tie it closely to the internal system so that it can't be removed. I'm not sure everyone out there wants Twitter and Facebook on their phones. But it's there and using up space that should be free to the user to do with as they please. Oh well.
So, here's hoping that Google will have Motorola create some flagship phones that address all the above. That would be the next phone I would buy.
THE HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS - CC Licensed Sci-Fi Novel
an acquisition widely thought to be motivated by Android patent concerns rather than a more straightforward business plan
Like it or not, this is increasingly going to become standard business unless we get software patents under control.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
letters of their title ala; ANAL. So Google buying a hardware company doesn't make sense but oh I dunno, a software company like Microsoft buys hardware patents does....hmmm. This is nothing more than sphincter-ologists enjoying the smell of their own dirt road.
My karma is not a Chameleon.
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Unless I'm reading this wrong, Motorola still can make cop radios and chips, you know the giant set of tech manuals that accompanies the chips they manufacture. If you ask me, it's the mobile phones which will become vapor, not the chip manufacturer. It more sounds to me like Motorola just got out of the retarded mobile phone business. Outsourced it if you will. Say what you want about motorola, they have had some really bad times in the recent past few years, but remember this is a company kind of like the original Sears & Roebuck, a company in trouble again right now in recent years. What I am saying is these are companies if you are truly an American, you want to keep going.
About the sale... Why not, I ask. Who gives a crap about phones. When I come to Motorola, I am looking for parts, usually replacements finals lately, or a rugged mobile radio.
Not a line of smart phones with browsing and spying and app store interface!
Another thing Motorola has going for it, it can manufacture the chip itself, and so the chip can be more controlled and trusted (I would say, unless they changed something) from a USA point of view, it's an American company vs having to buy chips from a foreign country. On the other hand it makes Motorola a company which should maintain a responsible awareness of their actions, and not just say sell a crapload of tip top rf finals to countries who might be using them as weather weapons, or jammers to put down their country's legitimate dissent or spy people into a police state which ignores the constitution.
After the downfall of such upheaval, I would be one of the first to re-invest in the original Motorola. Fuck mobile phones.
Years back they spun off their fab and semiconductor business to go "all-in" on the high growth of the cell phone world. I thing the top brass underestimated just how brutally competitive and cutthroat it would be. Their old businesses of semiconductors and high end radio systems had high margins, and relatively modest competition. While you can't say Motorola sucks at cell phones, they quickly became second/third tier players.
Same story as HP splitting off their legacy T&M business to concentrate on computers. Abandon a locked in high profit business in favor of higher growth, only to have things peter out with little backup plan. Meanwhile the split T&M business (Agilent) has managed to mostly shoot its golden goose, leaving previously loyal users pissed over low quality and foundering direction.
I'm sure there are many more, just sad to see the heroes of industry that you idolized back in engineering school turn into just another cautionary tale.
Google certainly didn't buy Motorola for its phones, which are among the crappiest on the market. Therefore it was for some other reason: either the patents (most likely) or the manufacturing capacity (unlikely: the product would need a complete redesign, which takes months) or some other corporate aspect which is well-hidden.
"It's like, thanks for everything you did in the 20th century, but you're being bought by a search engine," said Roger Entner, a telecommunications industry analyst and founder of Recon Analytics, a market research firm. He added, "Nobody ever buys a company and leaves it alone."
oh really? Warren Buffett would be very interested to hear that.
but then again, those who can, do; those who can't.....criticize those who can
I'm good with numbers -
Googorola.
Motorola did not know what they were doing or who they are for quite a while now. my first hint is when I had a brand new motoroloa phone, I dropped it once and its case shattered like glass.
For a company that used to have a reputation for making ridiculously strong products to magically forget that Bakelite sucks balls in 2008, is pretty fucking lost
Tell that to Warren Buffett.
I honestly believe that if Google is smart, they will allow Motorola to have a general autonomy over their business, but keep the ownership. Use the hardware facilities to manufacture new Android chip that would work great specifically for Android, or the most awesome tablet that would have built-in 3 / 4G and wireless adapters and much bigger battery life then anything out there on the market... Anyways the possibilities for what Google could ask Motorola to do are endless.
People can't match the iPad for price and performance because Apple are pulling money from the whole value chain - the complete user experience. They are not sharing margin with anyone with iTunes, iOS and the iPad.
Google wants the same end to end play and has the internet position and software to pull it off ... if it can get the right hardware made. This is all about getting the right hardware made, and getting it made in quickly.
This is a brilliant acquisition for them
--------------------------------------------- "In the end, we're all just water and old stars."
There has been some really interesting stuff going on for the Droid X (and Droid 2) lately.
With the development of 2nd-init, it's now possible to run stock android, CyanogenMod, and MIUI, totally MOTOBLUR-FREE
More information:
http://cvpcs.org/blog/2011-06-14/2nd-init._what_it_is_and_how_it_works
http://cvpcs.org/blog/2011-08-18/time_for_some_motorola_merging
http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?t=1820
http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?t=2222
http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?t=531
It would be nice not to jump through all of these hoops, and maybe soon we won't have to. But for now, this is as good as it gets for your Droid X. I'm partial to MIUI with ADW Launcher, it's a very polished ROM.
+1
If the Open Invention Network gets the patents, FTW and Google can do whatever they want with the company!!! Hopefully they DO intend to put the whole set of patents in the pool. THAT could change things.
"Ahh! I see you're in that indeterminate Schrodinger state where - oh, uh
These stories get old fast. Two companies that don't do the same thing merge and suddenly there is a culture clash. Well DUH. But the likely scenario is that the vast majority of the actual workers (i.e. useful individuals) will be left unscathed by the transition while the top level management will be gutted in favor of Google-appointed individuals. The article quotes vague "market analysts" to justify selling off vast swathes of Motorola mobility so that financial advisers can make huge profits out of what could be a great collaboration. Google could alienate HTC, Samsung, and most of the rest of the cell phone makers and still have android be on top simply because Win Mo 7 is eventually going to be costly. MIcrosoft has made it clear they make money off licensing and want to get their cut up front which is the antithesis of Android where they take nothing off the top.
The story is half-baked by financiers and the same old MBA's turned journalists. What sounds like sound advice and knowledge is really a limited understanding with a healthy dose of dogma thrown in for good measure. I admit I like google a great deal but to argue they need to sell off Motorola in pieces to appease the other manufacturers is ludicrous. They have a small market share (2.4% according to the article) so any rise for them from google's deep pockets would be fine and create competition within the market for better phones.
Well. I'd argue Disney came close with Pixar. Although their current and upcoming sequel happy roster may give the lie to my statement.
my phone of normal intelligence (Samsung UCH-450 aka Intensity) does have only 128MB of internal memory, but it works pretty smoothly with microSD cards up to 16GB. In most cases, fairly easy to select which to use as to default, and fairly easy to move already-created files between the two.
(Also, when the phone is connected to my PC, the card is recognized like any external drive, and can be used as such, making it easier to manage the contents, whatever they are - though as a practical matter, most of the space is occupied by my music collection.)
~KingAlanI
1) Buy HP's WebOS division since they seem keen on dumping it.
2) integrate the good parts of WebOS and Android.
3) put it on hardware that doesn't suck a fat one.
4) compete with apple like you actually mean it.
Take the patents and spin off the company
So who is going to buy a hardware company with no patents? What exactly would they make? Certainly not the devices they were making which rely on the patents now owned by Google and not included in the purchase price.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
A sensible idea. The webOS UI and logical menu system would improve Android a lot (I am a sad loser, I have both...) But when did a sensible, logical idea ever get any traction at all in the mirror universe of American industry?
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
In that case, Google paid entirely too much money for patents with dubious value in terms of being able to protect Android. Microsoft has already filed a suit against Motorola alleging that it infringes against several Microsoft patents. Motorola also filed a suit against Apple (possibly preemptively) and Apple has filed a counter suit. Depending how these legal battles shake out, Google might not be much better off than it was before.
The hardware devision is actually worth something, however. Motorola has been producing what I consider among the best Android phones. They have better signal and battery life than any other manufacturer's handsets. The only big complaint has been MotoBlur, which is bog awful. Now that Google is in charge, they would do well to simply ditch MotoBlur and run vanilla Android. This should improve performance while also distinguishing Motorola handsets from the other companies that continue to put their own crap UI on the phone.
Just ban that dumb domain.
The #1 mission of the cable companies is to fight all the moves towards people getting "TV" from the Internet instead of from overpriced "premium" cable tiers.
This is great new! i'm guessing the droid bootloaders will be unloacked very soon! opens many doors for google now!
2135
'nuf said.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
How much of HTC sales are in US, where people are looking for the cheapest phones, vs markets like East Asia, where people are looking for the coolest features? I'd say that the bulk of the sales of HTC and ZTE are in Asia, whereas Apple, Mot & HP are in the US. That would explain why HTC is posting high profits.
Incidentally, which is the #3 platform now after Android and iPAD - WP7, Blackberry or WebOS? Or something else altogether?
... a Xoom w/ USB slots, even if Mot makes it a high end tablet. That way, one can connect a tablet to an external USB drive and use it to store things like all the downloaded movies, and so on.
Hopefully one of the things they will do is remove abominations such as MotoBlur, including from existing handsets. This will cause motorola owners to colletively cheer and tempt people away from other manufacturers.