Google to Appoint Dennis Woodside as Motorola Mobility CEO replacing Jha

[wicked]

A new face for Motorola but not for Google. Bloomberg News reported today that Google will announce Dennis Woodside as the new CEO of Motorola Mobility replacing Sanjay Jha .

Previous rumors had suggested that Google would appoint Nikesh Arora to run Motorola after their acquisition deal closed. In that scenario Woodside would have taken Arora’s job, but it appears that he somehow leapfrogged him.

Woodside has been at Google since 2003, according to his LinkedIn profile, and has held a variety of positions. He has held the roles Director of Business Operations, Managing Director of Emerging Markets, Managing Director and VP of Google UK, President of Google Americas, and Senior Vice President of Google.

Google agreed to acquire the hardware-manufacturing arm of Motorola for about $12.5 billion last year. The United States and European Union gave regulatory approval for the deal earlier this month, but China has yet to sign on.

Source: Bloomberg and LinkedIn
​

 

[Droid-Xer]

Good news indeed for more openness on Motorola devices.

 

[wicked]

Hope he does better than Jha. Unlocked bootloaders headed our way? I sure hope so.

 

[Droid-Xer]

I think anything other than what Motorola has been doing is better for the development community. Motorola has gone out if their way to lock down their devices.

 

[dgstorm]

This is likely very good news. Google wouldn't have switched things out without some intentions to make some serious changes. It's about time we got some good leadership at Motorola.

 

[djspy]

Someone on another thread pointed out something very logical as to why Motorola locks their bootloaders. Security (of course). In the thread the person said Motorola is trying to woo BlackBerry customers and of course most of Blackberry customers and corporate people. People who value the security of their files above everything else. They don't care about modding, custom roms and live wall papers. they want to be at ease knowing their sensitive data is secure. That is why Motorola is making their phones more secure. I think if you see it with Motorola's view you'll be more understanding.

 

[Alastrionia]

Someone on another thread pointed out something very logical as to why Motorola locks their bootloaders. Security (of course). In the thread the person said Motorola is trying to woo BlackBerry customers and of course most of Blackberry customers and corporate people. People who value the security of their files above everything else. They don't care about modding, custom roms and live wall papers. they want to be at ease knowing their sensitive data is secure. That is why Motorola is making their phones more secure. I think if you see it with Motorola's view you'll be more understanding.

while that is a very valid point of view and for Motorola to compete then they have to offer something competitive
but what they really should do then is create a brand / model of phones that will woo them away.
leave the other models to us modders / hackers / tinkerers

get the best of both worlds.

 

[djspy]

while that is a very valid point of view and for Motorola to compete then they have to offer something competitive
but what they really should do then is create a brand / model of phones that will woo them away.
leave the other models to us modders / hackers / tinkerers

get the best of both worlds.

I think that's what they did the RAZR developer edition. They just need to release it State Side as well. Or, do what HTC does to unlock the bootloaders.

 

[huskerkate]

i guess CK hasn't stopped dancing and giggling long enough to respond. i just now stopped... this is very good news for Moto mobile devices. under Jha's "leadership", Moto had a chance to put a stranglehold on the market after the OG. instead, Moto has somewhat floundered with some pretty questionable decisions, products, and business model. i have to think this is a step in the right direction for Moto. Sanjay, don't let the door hit ya........

as for the locked bootloader/security issue, i have said for a while now that corporate customers was Moto's goal. Andy's market share has been skyrocketing, but not really at the expense of Apple's market share. the low hanging fruit here is RIM - they are circling the drain. imo, Moto has been targeting RIM's clientele to boost sales. but, to do so, Moto has to be able to promise the same things that RIM does - corporate security.

that being said, i don't think this is a justification for not allowing Moto bootloaders to be unlocked. Moto's strategy has been to lock down everything tight. but, they certainly have the capability to allow for an unlock tool. i would think they could go about it in reverse, and still attract the corporate clients. instead of locking everything down, Moto could release its phones open and unlockable, but provide a "lock tool" to corporate clients (instead of providing an unlock tool to regular customers) and achieve the necessary security.

 

[cereal killer]

Someone on another thread pointed out something very logical as to why Motorola locks their bootloaders. Security (of course). In the thread the person said Motorola is trying to woo BlackBerry customers and of course most of Blackberry customers and corporate people. People who value the security of their files above everything else. They don't care about modding, custom roms and live wall papers. they want to be at ease knowing their sensitive data is secure. That is why Motorola is making their phones more secure. I think if you see it with Motorola's view you'll be more understanding.

This is exactly it. They have their work cut out for them seeing that Samsung just inked a deal with one of the largest enterprise software companies in the world. Don't be surprised to see most, if not all, Samsung handsets being locked down (with the exception of the Nexus)

It wasn't Sanjays sole decision to lock down boot loaders. It's not as simplistic as that. With that said, I don't expect the policy to change, but we'll see. I think there is a race to secure the corporate market. RIM is dying a slow death and who knows if they will recover, so there is a huge void to be filled. Security is the name of the game nowadays and I_think_ the days of open handsets is slowly coming to an end. Just my opinion of course.......

 

[djspy]

that being said, i don't think this is a justification for not allowing Moto bootloaders to be unlocked. Moto's strategy has been to lock down everything tight. but, they certainly have the capability to allow for an unlock tool. i would think they could go about it in reverse, and still attract the corporate clients. instead of locking everything down, Moto could release its phones open and unlockable, but provide a "lock tool" to corporate clients (instead of providing an unlock tool to regular customers) and achieve the necessary security.

That is not an option. Corporate people do not have the time/need or want to worry about locking down the phone themselves. They are paying money to start using the device right out of the box. On the other hand modders don't mind doing the extra work.

 

[cereal killer]

i guess CK hasn't stopped dancing and giggling long enough to respond. i just now stopped... this is very good news for Moto mobile devices. under Jha's "leadership", Moto had a chance to put a stranglehold on the market after the OG. instead, Moto has somewhat floundered with some pretty questionable decisions, products, and business model. i have to think this is a step in the right direction for Moto. Sanjay, don't let the door hit ya........

as for the locked bootloader/security issue, i have said for a while now that corporate customers was Moto's goal. Andy's market share has been skyrocketing, but not really at the expense of Apple's market share. the low hanging fruit here is RIM - they are circling the drain. imo, Moto has been targeting RIM's clientele to boost sales. but, to do so, Moto has to be able to promise the same things that RIM does - corporate security.

that being said, i don't think this is a justification for not allowing Moto bootloaders to be unlocked. Moto's strategy has been to lock down everything tight. but, they certainly have the capability to allow for an unlock tool. i would think they could go about it in reverse, and still attract the corporate clients. instead of locking everything down, Moto could release its phones open and unlockable, but provide a "lock tool" to corporate clients (instead of providing an unlock tool to regular customers) and achieve the necessary security.

I like the way you think lol. see my response above. I do disagree with one thing though. I don't think Moto will offer an unlock tool simply because that will enable corporate users to tinker with their device if they choose. If I'm selling you on my handset and how secure it is, I will show you how impenetrable it is and will use HTC as an example of a phone not to equip your employees if security is an issue. I'd pop up my power point presentation and show them HTC's unlock tool then I'd load up some DF's threads and go into my spiel:

"You want security? Buy our phones. They cannot be cracked. Matter of fact look over here on Droidforums, those guys still can't unlock our bootloader on the aging Droid X. There has been bounty's put out to the first one to crack it. Our bootloaders are more secure than Area 51 gentlemen and thats a fact."

I'd pack up my stuff and walk out.....

 

[Stelv]

I like the way you think lol. see my response above. I do disagree with one thing though. I don't think Moto will offer an unlock tool simply because that will enable corporate users to tinker with their device if they choose. If I'm selling you on my handset and how secure it is, I will show you how impenetrable it is and will use HTC as an example of a phone not to equip your employees if security is an issue. I'd pop up my power point presentation and show them HTC's unlock tool then I'd load up some DF's threads and go into my spiel:

"You want security? Buy our phones. They cannot be cracked. Matter of fact look over here on Droidforums, those guys still can't unlock our bootloader on the aging Droid X. There has been bounty's put out to the first one to crack it. Our bootloaders are more secure than Area 51 gentlemen and thats a fact."

I'd pack up my stuff and walk out.....

You make some good points, but if Motorola keeps on focusing on one area of the business sector, which is "business security" then they limit their possible sales to only one group of users. That would become a hinderance to them if that niche of people decided to not go with Moto. The real way to make money is to appeal to multiple groups and demographics. They need both locked and unlocked phones.

 

[tjk629]

He has a strong face, yet it doesn't look trustworthy.

 

[huskerkate]

That is not an option. Corporate people do not have the time/need or want to worry about locking down the phone themselves. They are paying money to start using the device right out of the box. On the other hand modders don't mind doing the extra work.

i wouldn't go so far as to say it's not an option. but, at the same time, you make a pretty valid point. making an unlock tool available would probably make more sense.

I like the way you think lol. see my response above. I do disagree with one thing though. I don't think Moto will offer an unlock tool simply because that will enable corporate users to tinker with their device if they choose. If I'm selling you on my handset and how secure it is, I will show you how impenetrable it is and will use HTC as an example of a phone not to equip your employees if security is an issue. I'd pop up my power point presentation and show them HTC's unlock tool then I'd load up some DF's threads and go into my spiel:

"You want security? Buy our phones. They cannot be cracked. Matter of fact look over here on Droidforums, those guys still can't unlock our bootloader on the aging Droid X. There has been bounty's put out to the first one to crack it. Our bootloaders are more secure than Area 51 gentlemen and thats a fact."

I'd pack up my stuff and walk out.....

i'm not sure which one of us should be more worried [ see bolded quote].

i see your point. but, there HAS to be some way to accommodate both interests. i'd hate to think that the solution is limiting the Nexus line to being the only open device. i tend to think that this would lead to the Nexus line being produced with more second-tier hardware specs, since it would be such a niche product. maybe i'm thinking too narrowly, but....