Could Google Be Planning to Do More with Motorola Than Initially Reported?

[dgstorm]

Not too long ago Google's own Andy Rubin took the time to reiterate that Google will not be actively participating in what Motorola does, once the acquisition is finalized. In fact, he even claimed that there would be both a literal and figurative "firewall" between the two companies. A new report from the Wall Street Journal citing sources close to Google suggests that this may not be the case after-all. Here's a snippet from the WSJ article,

...people close to Google say it plans to make substantial investment in Libertyville, Ill.-based Motorola, whose share in smartphones is languishing at around 4%. The goal, these people say, is to build truly innovative devices, which the company realizes will take both money and talent.

Hmmm... making a "substantial investment" with a goal of making "truly innovative devices" sounds quite a bit more hands-on than what they have been implying. That will be a fine line for Google to walk. It makes sense that they would want to help prop up the new Motorola they just spent $12.5 Billion dollars acquiring, but they don't want to do too much for fear of driving away their other partners like HTC, Samsung, LG and more.

What do you guys think? Can Google continue to dominate in the search-software business, while adding a new hardware business to its Android lineup without angering its partners?

Source: WSJ

 

[Big Ry]

They'll get tired of walking outside to get around the literal firewall that separates Moto and Google offices. Eventually collaboration between the two offices will stop and Google will just say "Get your crap together, Moto!"

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[johnomaz]

Google won't let their own company fail. I am sure when they decided to buy them it was all good, but now, with the shape Moto is in, they will take it into their own hands. Will it be only Nexus devices, no, but I do think major changes will happen.

 

[dgstorm]

^^ +1

 

[LuvMusic]

As long as Google remains transparent on the software side of the business with all of it's partners, I don't see a problem with Google trying to compete via Moto on the hardware side of the business. However, if it appears Moto is getting early access to software updates / innovations which allows Moto to bring updates for their devices faster to the market place than the competition or Moto starts getting "preferred" access to new OS releases....look out!

I don't think Google will do this. Look at the substantial rumors about the Asus Nexus tablet. If Google was going to be aggresive, why didn't they start with the rumored Nexus tablet and make it a Moto branded device?

 

[zomnomnombie]

I would love a Googlerola device. Build quality, integration AND timely updates? Yes please.

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[cush2push]

Im not sure how they can drive away lg samsung htc etc since the software is free saves the partners money and by truly innovative i hope it has a feature where my phone will point at iPhones and laugh

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[JohnnytheK]

Not if they sell Moto. Why buy it, to 1. ignore and make a firewall between both companies or 2. Or sell it to another company in few months later.

 

[yaterml]

Right now its all about patent portfolios. Buy the entire company for their patents then sell it off minus the folder and create a stream of revenue and reduce your overhead for your technology. I would like to see you have to option to purchase the vanilla version of the Android OS for a device if you don't like the sense, touch, or blur versions. At least give the people the option. No add on, truely open, and quick updates but costs a few bucks more. Although this would increase Google's work load. It would dnd the self imposed developer fragmentation that Samsung, LG, Moto, HTC and crew have imposed on themselves and the Android OS. The business partnership with Moto and Verizon being totalitarian dictators and reaming their customers with poor service, poor products, and raking in the money needs to be put to an end. I say if they don't plan on selling Moto then Google needs to purchase Verizon as well. Sell the complete package on the same open platform Android was designed. Produce the perfect product and service, set the bar high so that the other companies have something to shoot for and knock Apple of the perch at the top of the technology world, but be fair and make sure that it is a fair market for the Android platform and if done correctly Google can fix a lot of whats wrong with the technology world.

 

[Paul_Aris]

Moto has really good radios in their phones which gives a nice strong cell signal. They also have petty decent build quality. However, they could use some help on the industrial design. Apple is the best for hardware design. I think the possibilities of Moto to produce world class phones is really good.

 

[Chizzele]

Well the way is see it, i think that one of the first product that should come from this newly developed relationship is an Unlocked Nexus Device made with Motorola Build quality and a tasty jelly bean to go along with it..

 

[skennelly]

IMO, I think Google will be the next Apple as far as building their own hardware and software. Google won't give a crap what other phone manufacturers do. Most won't have the resources to build their own software, so they'll continue to run Android. However, there have already been rumors that Samsung is looking at developing their own OS for their phones. This will be the future, phone manufacturers running their own OS on their hardware.

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