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When Google bought Motorola, Android was under serious assault from patent trolling, and the move looked to most people to be mainly defensive to quickly build
by cromwellian 9y ago
When Google bought Motorola, Android was under serious assault from patent trolling, and the move looked to most people to be mainly defensive to quickly build up a defensive warchest. It's my impression that Google never intended to become a serious competitor in the handset market, perhaps for fear of stepping on the toes of its partners like Samsung, so it was content to let Motorola operate as an independent entity as if Google were a holding company.
This is just my personal opinion with no more knowledge than anyone else, but this HTC acquisition looks different than Motorola. It has the hallmarks of an acqui-hire, and which implies Google may no longer be content to just sit by as a cornucopia of OEMs ship commodity HW using off the shelf stuff and small tweaks, as that's never going to pull the market forward like Apple can do with vertical integration.
- arkitaip 9y agoGoogle already has serious problems with its culture that prevents it from consistently shipping consumer products. Adding HTC's overhead and shrinking market share is adding more fuel to the fire. If Andy Rubin can ship a mobile phone in just two years with ~100 employees, maybe Google could take a similar approach by funding a totally independent startup that's not burden by its culture yet has access to all of Google's resources.
- cromwellian 9y agoDid Essential actually build their phone, or did they simply contract an OEM to do it? Looks like LG might be the true maker of this device: http://phandroid.com/2017/05/30/essential-phone-manufacturer-lg/ http://phandroid.com/2017/05/30/essential-phone-manufacturer...
- ac29 9y agoAccording to the FCC test report [0], the manufacturer is "FIH Mobile Limited", which Google says is owned by Foxconn. [0] https://fccid.io/2ALBB-A11/Test-Report/Test-Report-3524146.pdf https://fccid.io/2ALBB-A11/Test-Report/Test-Report-3524146.p...
- tdeck 9y agoIt seems pretty easy these days to get an OEM phone made. Even Pepsi commissioned their own smartphone: http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/pepsi-phone-p1-3109 http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/pepsi-phone-p1-3109
- microtherion 9y agoEven teenagers are commissioning their own smartphone: http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/09/05/frank-isnt-just-phone-phony/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/09/05/frank-isnt-just-phon...
- KKKKkkkk1 9y agoWhat do you mean defensive warchest? You can't sue a patent troll for patent infringement because they don't produce any products. So how does owning lots of patents protect you from patent trolls?
- cromwellian 9y agoI consider Microsoft the patent troll in this case. (https://www.wired.com/2013/11/rockstar-2/ https://www.wired.com/2013/11/rockstar-2/) Microsoft at the time was bragging about Android licensing revenues and basically using whatever they had, including non-practiced patents, to threaten Android OEMs into submission.