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Patent Deflection: Motoroogle About Facebook, Amazon

- By - Source : Tom's Guide US

All right I got it. Google buys a financially troubled Motorola and adds more than 20,000 employees so that it can use 17,000 patents to protect itself from patent infringement lawsuits targeting Android. It's a sound story, but I don't buy it.

Journalists have a natural sense of skepticism. Occasionally that skepticism is over-pronounced and will lead you to think in the wrong direction, get overly-excited about something that just does not exist and you end up with a wasted day of research, but a good feeling that you (hopefully) made the right choice of doing that research and coming to the right conclusion for an article for your readers.

I have been thinking about Motoroogle for since Monday and, at least to me, I don't think the chain of arguments why Google purchased Motorola makes sense. $12.5 billion for 17,000 patents sounds like a bargain, depending on what patents Google is after; and more than 20,000 employees could be accepted as necessary baggage. Google seems to have beaten other bidders for Motorola, such as Microsoft, which apparently did not get the deal since it wasn't interested in the hardware business. Google also confirmed that it will keep Motorola's hardware business alive and run it as a separate business.

It would be foolish for Google not to leverage any open opportunities such a hardware business, even if it has to walk a fine line between strengthening its own business and not alienating its hardware partners. It has to fit nicely into its strategy of everything, commonly referred to as SOE, and not raise any anti-competitive concerns from its rivals. If you ask me, if this is really the idea, then it does not get much better than Motorola. Google gets a wealth of knowledge, but a cell phone/smartphone manufacturer that is not listed in the top 5 smartphone companies today (it is #6, according to IDC with a market share of about 4%) and certainly not a company that is dominating headlines today, but is flying very much under the radar.

My thoughts are that the 17,000 patents could be just the obvious benefit of something much bigger and a simple distraction in one of Google's most clever moves yet. On a much bigger scale, Google could become the first true cloud computing empire that controls the entire digital supply chain. If we look closely, Motorola adds a critical component, a possible hardware reference platform that gives Google much more knowledge how to integrate software with hardware, that will complement an already powerful ecosystem. Among all its rivals, whether that would be Microsoft, Apple, Sony and especially Facebook, Google is now the only company that can control an entire ecosystem of cloud computing, if it wants to.

Specifically, Google has the most capable search engine with the dominant advertising platform, several operating system choices that are likely to be integrated over time, it is building application and media/entertainment stores (apps/books/music/movies), it has a massive user base, there is a dedicated payment system, a social network as well as a hardware manufacturer that is deeply entrenched in the products Google is targeting - compact mobile devices. While Google will be careful not to increase the competition with the companies it depends on, Motorola is more than likely a way to limit the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem and a tool to create reference platforms for Android. Of course, it would be prudent for Google to leverage Motorola as much as possible and it is somewhat clear that the company will have to create connections to Motorola - more than just patent connections. There is too much opportunity for Google to outrun Facebook and Microsoft and it is rather unlikely that Google will pass on that chance. As long as Motorola's smartphone market share is less than 10%, Google may have an easy play here and may have no difficulties to wipe any antitrust concerns off the table.

If we look at Apple and compare it to the new Google, then it seems that Google is suddenly growing into a much more powerful competitor. However, Apple lacks Google's search engine and a social network. Microsoft lacks the hardware. Facebook lacks media accessibility and hardware. Google's rivals have very specific strengths but are vulnerable in other aspects. Where Google's rivals are focused, Google is broadening its product base, which can be a dangerous concept, but as the company grows, it may be able to use an ecosystem that can threaten each of its rivals much more than it already does today. If you consider cloud computing a battlefield, we are seeing Google that has strategically placed its army to dominate a future that is filled with compact devices that access information and entertainment through software services.

The only other cloud company that rivals Google's cloud approach may be Amazon at this time.

There is no smoking gun for the scenario I have described, but the opportunity for Google to use Motorola for much more than patents is clearly available. If you ask me, Google will take it.

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house70 08/18/2011 2:25 AM
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Article stating the obvious. This hypothesis was online for a few days, even on non-tech websites.
We all know how much Gruener loves Apple, and this article reeks of sour grapes. Sorry, buddy, I am pretty sure if Apple would have bought Motorola your article would have been filled with praises of their wisdom. And no Motorapple remarks, either.
The conclusion of the article is obvious and has been speculated for a while, as said before. Gruener is right, just late to the table. One caveat, though: I don't believe that this acquisition will be the one to limit Android fragmentation; Google has been on this case already, as the upcoming 4.0 is supposed to address this issue. Google can not limit their hardware compatibility to Motorola, it will shoot itself in the foot. Instead, they will continue to cover the other hardware platforms, from HTC and Samsung, to ensure the market domination. I hope Android will come up with a generic driver scheme, and specific manufacturers can deploy their optimized drivers for their devices as an option for consumers.

house70 08/18/2011 3:05 AM
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Forgot to mention, Motorola makes pretty good hardware, anyone remember Razr? They dropped the ball with bootloader-locked phones lately, but if Google is true to it's open-platform OS, that will get fixed really soon. Also, may I suggest to drop that awful Motoblur UI? Plain vanilla Android is sooo much better.

afrobacon 08/18/2011 3:30 AM
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This is probably a good time to buy some Gstock.

selloutjoe 08/18/2011 3:41 AM
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A fair analysis, but don't forgot that google sits on a massive amount of dark fiber cable, adding the tools to run multiple network backbones,etc, in the USA.....etc.... mobile tied to a free wireless google network running google's clouds would make Amazon's kindle network look like a baby toy. The recent IBM patent buy hints of bigger mainframes being added to the mix in gov cloud and banks deals. A strong IBM and Google alliance could change the java issue in the business world, Plus HP is at war with Oracle. Sony needs to rethink its network alliance and join google as a main partner in the consumer wireless network products development. Motorola could easily function like Intel in development prototyping circuit boards for advance phones, saving OEMs a lot of investment.=,etc....

lostmyclan 08/18/2011 3:59 AM
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law shay 08/18/2011 4:02 AM
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house70 :
Forgot to mention, Motorola makes pretty good hardware, anyone remember Razr? They dropped the ball with bootloader-locked phones lately, but if Google is true to it's open-platform OS, that will get fixed really soon. Also, may I suggest to drop that awful Motoblur UI? Plain vanilla Android is sooo much better.


It is fixed now.

lostmyclan 08/18/2011 4:05 AM
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K-zon 08/18/2011 5:59 AM
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eddieroolz 08/18/2011 8:03 AM
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I simply think that we already have a prior case here of HP buying Palm and not ending up too well ahead. If they make a mistake, Google can be a 2nd HP - not getting anywhere with the purchased IP.

tgreader 08/18/2011 9:53 AM
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house70 :
Article stating the obvious. This hypothesis was online for a few days, even on non-tech websites.We all know how much Gruener loves Apple, and this article reeks of sour grapes. Sorry, buddy, I am pretty sure if Apple would have bought Motorola your article would have been filled with praises of their wisdom. And no Motorapple remarks, either.The conclusion of the article is obvious and has been speculated for a while, as said before. Gruener is right, just late to the table. One caveat, though: I don't believe that this acquisition will be the one to limit Android fragmentation; Google has been on this case already, as the upcoming 4.0 is supposed to address this issue. Google can not limit their hardware compatibility to Motorola, it will shoot itself in the foot. Instead, they will continue to cover the other hardware platforms, from HTC and Samsung, to ensure the market domination. I hope Android will come up with a generic driver scheme, and specific manufacturers can deploy their optimized drivers for their devices as an option for consumers.



It wasn't always like this. Since Gruener's children have grown a bit, he bought them all ipads and I suspect he started to see some value in Apple as his kids appreciated the apple gadgets.

Anonymous 08/18/2011 11:45 AM
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Ohhh...comon guy Googorola sounds so much better ;)

LePhuronn 08/18/2011 1:12 PM
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Quiz :
Ohhh...comon guy Googorola sounds so much better



It sounds like a blue cheese :/

leper84 08/18/2011 1:42 PM
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K-zon :
lalalalala



Wow dude. At first your posts were more than irritating to me, but now somehow I'm actually growing fond of them; regardless if I can understand what this s**t you're saying or not.

Let me ask honestly, is english a first or second language to you?

Anonymous 08/18/2011 2:07 PM
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It's his fourth language :D

house70 08/18/2011 2:48 PM
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@ k-zon:

Dude, you either need to stop using some auto-translate feature, or you need to start taking your pills.
Better yet, just post in your native language; whomever understands it might read it. 'Cause right now, nobody understands you. And I mean nobody.

FlayerSlayer 08/18/2011 3:15 PM
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I keep reading the article title and thinking about moogles now...

ettibebs 08/18/2011 3:28 PM
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I think K-zon is using Babelfish to translate its post

radium69 08/18/2011 3:40 PM
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Googola sounds best :)

NapoleonDK 08/18/2011 5:25 PM
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K-zon :
TROLOLOLOOO

He's the secret ringleader of all the spammers. Do not anger him!! XD

On Topic: I'm interested in seeing how Google's relationship with Motorola might be different (more involved) than with Samsung and the Nexus devices. Will they pick up the Nexus line? I can't wait to see a Moto quad-core LTE "Nexus Ultima" with Android 4.0!!!

jungleboogiemonster 08/18/2011 6:42 PM
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Wonder when Google will buy AT&T or Verizon to acquire landlines, backbones and spectrums to further their ability to have control over every aspect of their business?

ansar 08/18/2011 8:01 PM
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All this cloud talk to me is just gibberish until you figure out how to get around the telco's bandwidth caps. I guess wifi hotspots might due for awhile, but I don't see true cloud acceptance until you can really access it from anywhere.

newbie_mcnoob 08/18/2011 8:34 PM
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An important fact people are overlooking is Motorola Mobility isn't just mobile phones and tablets. It also includes all the video infrastructure hardware like cable set-top boxes used by QAM (Comcast, Cox, and other cable companies) and IP-based (Verizon Fios) TV providers, cable modems, and other commercial cable headend equipment.
Google has a huge opportunity to change the cable TV landscape, in addition to mobile phones.

aaron88_7 08/18/2011 8:46 PM
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afrobacon :
This is probably a good time to buy some Gstock.


Googles stock went down after this announcement. It could be some brilliant plan, or it could be a horrible idea that will hurt them later on.

I just hope all Motorolla phones are updated to the latest Android version to pressure other manufacturers to not dilly dally with the updates. People shouldn't have to root their phones just to get an update.

lorddelta 08/18/2011 9:04 PM
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Get rid of software patents, computer empire problem solved.

Its true, there's no counter argument that's also pro-capitalist. Remember the wine monopolies? It ain't just free beer formulas, its history.

captaincharisma 08/18/2011 9:32 PM
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the only ammo tech companies have these days are patents. and all the people talking do forget about moto's set top box devices which i believe is bigger than there mobile phone business. but correct me if i am wrong

dalethepcman 08/18/2011 11:25 PM
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K-zon :
And what any "Patent Deflection" might have to do with it.



OMG!!! A coherent sentence from KZON. This is a sign of the apocalypse, the machines are becoming sentient...

Seriously though, I kind of look forward to reading these post's and speaking them back to myself using different accent's trying to figure out where this guy could possibly be from (india and china don't seem to work)