Google has decided to change the mobile world. Again. Google CEO Larry Page announced this morning that Google will purchase Motorola Mobility for $40 per share, or roughly $12.5 billion.
Motorola has been responsible for some incredibly important Android devices in the past and has a history of being first to market with devices carrying the newest version of Android. While they haven’t launched any of the Google branded Nexus devices, the original Motorola Droid seems like a precursor to that trend. It was the first device to run Android 2.0 and was a completely stock version of the OS with an unlocked bootloader. That device, combined with a massive Verizon marketing campaign, was Android’s first major commercial success. The Droid’s impact was so huge that to the average consumer, all Android devices are “Droids”. Motorola also built the first Android 3.0 device, the Xoom tablet.
By buying Motorola, Google is in a position to manufacturer any future Nexus devices itself, rather than rotating through the various handset manufacturers each year. Following the Droid, HTC manufactured the Nexus One, while Samsung developed the Nexus S. The purchase may lead manufacturers to hedge their bets and manufacture more Windows Phone 7 devices. It almost certainly draws the attention of the FTC’s ongoing investigation into Google and Android.
Google sees the purchase as its first step in combating the patent challenges Android is facing. Motorola has been in the mobile business for long enough to provide a significant patent portfolio that Google can use to defend other Android device makers, perhaps sheltering them from suits like the one Apple recently used to ban the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 from European sale. Ironically, Google just lost a bidding war for Nortel’s patent portfolio, which was bought by a consortium including Apple and Microsoft for just $4.5 billion. That number seemed high at the time, but is suddenly a lot less impressive next to the Motorola purchase price. It’s possible the Nortel fight brought home to Google the challenge it was facing on the patent front, though alternatively, they may not have pushed to win the Nortel patents simply because the Motorola purchase was already in the works.
So let’s hear from you, readers. What impact do you think Google’s new purchase will have on the smartphone world?
I guess we know where the next Nexus is going be to sourced from!
Personally, I always found Moto’s hardware design to be the bottom rung in the Smartphone lineup. I know a lot of people will argue with me, but I just haven’t been impressed with a Motorola product for YEARS (long before the RAZR, which was basically a more fragile and expensive version of the superior V600). Dating back to the Moto Q, their smartphone hardware always seemed buggier and less adaptive than competitive products from HTC or Samsung. As I understand it, Moto was in danger of closing shop more than once. I would assume this is why.
The Droid was considered iconic, but the keyboard was pretty bad, and I found the ergonomics left a lot to be desired compared to keyboarded options from other manufacturers. Sure, maybe I’ve been spoiled by HTC’s Touch Pro 2 keyboard (arguably the BEST keyboard of any device I’ve ever touched), but I have very mixed feelings about this merger.
Until recently, Sprint didn’t offer any Motorola Android handsets, which struck some as odd. There was a lot of speculation on sprintusers.com as to why that was, but my favorite theory was that “their phones suck compared to HTC and Samsung, so why would Sprint bother”. Not my words, I think it had more to do with a Verizon exclusive deal, but I agree with the idea behind it- I really didn’t care if Moto offered anything on Sprint or not, as long as we had Samsung and HTC (and eventually even LG) to choose from.
Maybe Google will whip them into shape?