Google's acquisition of Motorola approved by EU and U.S DoJ regulators

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/european-commission-clears-motorola.html

by apetresc • 14 years ago

58 43 14 years ago

googleblog.blogspot.com

dsr_• 14 years ago

The good: a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it.

The bad: in the US, they still have to dicker with the wireless carriers.

The ugly: every Android manufacturer will suspect they are being disfavored.

AndrewDucker• 14 years ago

I'm hoping that the ICS version of the Droid Razr doesn't have any extra stuff on it, but is just an Android phone.

roc• 14 years ago

The Droid brand is owned by Verizon. It would seem very unlikely for anything to come out under that brand that wasn't loaded up with the cruft that Verizon dictates.

jrockway• 14 years ago

a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it

Is the hardware between devices really all that different? Phones are basically giant screens attached to giant batteries. Where do you go from there? Put in CDMA and GSM radios that each do a bunch of frequencies, and you're done developing phones forever.

(Even the iPhone 4 and iPhone 1 look approximately the same. Big screen. Home button. Power button / volume buttons / vibrate switch. Android devices are even simpler because they only need a power button.)

The problem with phones is that they are all the same in an abstract sense, but all different with respect to drivers and hardware bugs. That means you can never write phone OSes like you can write desktop OSes, which is a huge drag on innovation. Imagine if you could choose between Ubuntu and Mint on your phone. Instead, you're stuck with whatever you get from your carrier, which is worse than nothing at all.

Phones are all software these days, and the hardware manufactures cannot code their way out of a wet paper bag.

freehunter• 14 years ago

>you're done developing phones forever

There are dozens of different form-factors. Take a look at the diversity of the Android or even the WP7 market. Landscape sliders, portrait sliders, 4.3", 3.7", 5", 3", some with dual core, some with quad core, some with AMOLED screens, some with SAMOLED screens, some LCD screens. Some with removable SD cards, various amounts of storage, various price points of the market.

>Even the iPhone 4 and iPhone 1 look approximately the same

That's because Apple designed them all the same. The way Apple designs their products does not have any relation to the amount of possible designs.

>Android devices are even simpler because they only need a power button.

Android phones are supposed to have four face buttons. This is not strictly required (allowing for variation), but the phones expect you to have four buttons. Windows has three. Apple has one.

>you're stuck with whatever you get from your carrier

Except there is a huge amount of variation in the custom ROM world, which many Android devices allow.

>Phones are all software these days

A common misconception that will at some point pave the way for true innovation in hardware like we've seen in the past when the smartphone market stagnated (then the iPhone was released and it was exciting again).

there• 14 years ago

This acquisition really has nothing to do with making Google-branded Android phones, and everything to do with acquiring a huge patent portfolio to defend against Android-related lawsuits.

I predict that there will not really be much change in Google's or Motorola's device offerings and that other manufacturers will actually feel better post-acquisition, because now they will be further-protected by Google's patent portfolio.

Zirro• 14 years ago

"The good: a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it."

Is the special sauce added because they believe users appreciate it, or because they have some way to earn money from it?

(Actually, as someone who haven't used Android devices much, what are the common ingredients used in the special sauce?)

wmf3• 14 years ago

They want to get brand loyalty to their addons so that next time customers will buy the same brand phone. Also, I've heard that carriers would prefer if all the different Android phones they carry actually look different rather than all looking the same (or they could just carry fewer models).

melvinram• 14 years ago

I really hope that Google will make a commitment to consistently and quickly update all Motorola phones to the latest version of Android that the phone can handle so that it becomes the standard expectation from all phone manufacturers.

outside1234• 14 years ago

ha - they don't even do that with their phones!

hack_edu2• 14 years ago

Actually they do.

And if you are talking about the Nexus One or G1 in particular, no provider continues major-version support of 2+ year old phones.

Achshar• 14 years ago

They do. Nexus line is always first and quickest to get an update AFAIK

corin_• 14 years ago

Can anyone explain why the US DoJ announced that they were OK with it less than four hours after the European Commission?

They haven't come out and given it as a joint decision, but it seems too close to be a coincidence - had they just co-ordinated PR releases, or was one of them pushed into a decision by the other, or...?

lambda• 14 years ago

The DoJ announcement does say "During the course of its investigation of the Google/Motorola Mobility transaction, the Department of Justice cooperated closely with the European Commission."

So yes, it does sound like the Google/Motorola portion of the decision was coordinated. The DoJ was probably waiting for the EC announcement before releasing theirs, or maybe they just agreed to release them the same day and the DoJ one was released a few hours later due to the timezone difference.

cube13• 14 years ago

It's time zone differences. The 4 hour lag is the difference between Eastern US time during Daylight Saving Time and GMT.

The EC announcement, assuming that the Google blog is on Pacific time, would be around 5-6 PM GMT. That's after normal trading hours ends, which makes sense for announcements like this.

The DoJ announcement was at 5PM ET as well.

samstave2• 14 years ago

Motorola made a lot more than just phones. Did Google buy all their radio business as well.

Think about every Law Enforcement vehicle in the US; every single one of them has a motorola comm system in them. Will Google be making these?

eco• 14 years ago

They bought all of Motorola Mobility which includes all of their radio business.

scottmp10• 14 years ago

It doesn't look like it would include government communications hardware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Solutions

fluidcruft3• 14 years ago

Motorola split into Motorola Solutions (the robust, profitable part you're thinking about) and Motorola Mobility (the volatile, floundering part that was weighing Motorola down) early last year. Motorola Mobility are mobile phones and cable top boxes, that's the part Google bought. That other stuff is Motorola Solutions.

After the split Motorola Mobility went into "ah oh, somebody better buy me or I might do something stupid" mode playing Microsoft and Google against each other. This is also when Motorola was leaking the rumors of a full private Android fork that cuts Google out (replacing the market, gps/navigation libraries, etc), threatening to sue other Android manufacturers, etc. After Microsoft/Apple et al got the Nortel patents, Google couldn't afford for Microsoft to also get Motorola's.

samstave2• 14 years ago

Great info.

Thanks!

Zancarius• 14 years ago

Thanks for the comment. I seemed to remember that Google was acquiring a division of Motorola (Mobility, specifically), but I couldn't decide if the headline was either sensationalized or I completely missed out on something. You've quelled my surprise!

geniemano• 14 years ago

The public safety and radio businesses are a part of Motorola Solutions. Google's acquisition move is on Motorola Mobility. You might already know that Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility are separate companies after the recent split. Mobility stays with consumer focused mobile devices, home and media.

dminor2• 14 years ago

I'm hoping this leads to Android being developed completely in the open, with open-source drivers as well.

rbarooah3• 14 years ago

How would this have that effect?

blario2• 14 years ago

As to drivers, what reason does Goggle have to not release the driver code? This would be helpful to us that still want to use the latest Android more than 2 years after we spend $800 on a nexus phone.

Sadly, the binary that is always locked down is the modem. That might not have anything to do with the manufacture. Who knows what code carriers and requiring manufacturers I hide in there.

myko• 14 years ago

I could see this working to that effect to alleviate the concern many manufacturers have about playing second fiddle to Motorola. If they develop completely in the open every manufacturer can keep up with the latest updates as if they were a 'halo' device, even if Google only works directly with one or two manufacturers.

joebadmo• 14 years ago

As a mildly disappointed Galaxy Nexus owner who significantly prefers Motorola hardware to Samsung's, I really hope this means truly outstanding Nexus devices in the near future.

joeybaker• 14 years ago

Anybody know a good place to see how much google had to spend on lobbies to get this through? It'll be interesting if it's high or low.

Google's acquisition of Motorola approved by EU and U.S DoJ regulators

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