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Google's acquisition of Motorola approved by EU and U.S DoJ regulators

58 points by apetresc 15y ago

dsr_ 15y ago
The good: a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it. The bad: in the US, they still have to dicker with the wireless carriers. The ugly: every Android manufacturer will suspect they are being disfavored.
- AndrewDucker 15y ago
  I'm hoping that the ICS version of the Droid Razr doesn't have any extra stuff on it, but is just an Android phone.
  - roc 15y ago
    The Droid brand is owned by Verizon. It would seem very unlikely for anything to come out under that brand that wasn't loaded up with the cruft that Verizon dictates.
    - wmf 15y ago
      OK, Nexus Razr then.
- jrockway 15y ago
  a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it Is the hardware between devices really all that different? Phones are basically giant screens attached to giant batteries. Where do you go from there? Put in CDMA and GSM radios that each do a bunch of frequencies, and you're done developing phones forever. (Even the iPhone 4 and iPhone 1 look approximately the same. Big screen. Home button. Power button / volume buttons / vibrate switch. Android devices are even simpler because they only need a power button.) The problem with phones is that they are all the same in an abstract sense, but all different with respect to drivers and hardware bugs. That means you can never write phone OSes like you can write desktop OSes, which is a huge drag on innovation. Imagine if you could choose between Ubuntu and Mint on your phone. Instead, you're stuck with whatever you get from your carrier, which is worse than nothing at all. Phones are all software these days, and the hardware manufactures cannot code their way out of a wet paper bag.
  - freehunter 15y ago
    >you're done developing phones forever There are dozens of different form-factors. Take a look at the diversity of the Android or even the WP7 market. Landscape sliders, portrait sliders, 4.3", 3.7", 5", 3", some with dual core, some with quad core, some with AMOLED screens, some with SAMOLED screens, some LCD screens. Some with removable SD cards, various amounts of storage, various price points of the market. >Even the iPhone 4 and iPhone 1 look approximately the same That's because Apple designed them all the same. The way Apple designs their products does not have any relation to the amount of possible designs. >Android devices are even simpler because they only need a power button. Android phones are supposed to have four face buttons. This is not strictly required (allowing for variation), but the phones expect you to have four buttons. Windows has three. Apple has one. >you're stuck with whatever you get from your carrier Except there is a huge amount of variation in the custom ROM world, which many Android devices allow. >Phones are all software these days A common misconception that will at some point pave the way for true innovation in hardware like we've seen in the past when the smartphone market stagnated (then the iPhone was released and it was exciting again).
- there 15y ago
  This acquisition really has nothing to do with making Google-branded Android phones, and everything to do with acquiring a huge patent portfolio to defend against Android-related lawsuits. I predict that there will not really be much change in Google's or Motorola's device offerings and that other manufacturers will actually feel better post-acquisition, because now they will be further-protected by Google's patent portfolio.
- Zirro 15y ago
  "The good: a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it." Is the special sauce added because they believe users appreciate it, or because they have some way to earn money from it? (Actually, as someone who haven't used Android devices much, what are the common ingredients used in the special sauce?)
  - wmf 15y ago
    They want to get brand loyalty to their addons so that next time customers will buy the same brand phone. Also, I've heard that carriers would prefer if all the different Android phones they carry actually look different rather than all looking the same (or they could just carry fewer models).
melvinram 15y ago
I really hope that Google will make a commitment to consistently and quickly update all Motorola phones to the latest version of Android that the phone can handle so that it becomes the standard expectation from all phone manufacturers.
- outside1234 15y ago
  ha - they don't even do that with their phones!
  - hack_edu 15y ago
    Actually they do. And if you are talking about the Nexus One or G1 in particular, no provider continues major-version support of 2+ year old phones.
    - e1ven 15y ago
      The iPhone 3GS was released on June 19, 2009, and runs the newest iOS releaes. That was 2 years, 7 months ago.
      - hack_edu 15y ago
        And not very well IMHO, probably about as good as a Nexus One would ICS. There is something to say for UX/UI standards.
        redthrowaway 15y ago
        True that. iOS 5 is a dog on my 3gs, with unacceptable lag and intermittent crashes. If the LTE Galaxy Nexus were offered in Canada, I would have switched a month ago.
        chc 15y ago
        I would just like to emphasize that this is not a cop-out. Not only does my top-of-the-line (when I bought it) iPhone 3GS with iOS 5 feel much more sluggish than my girlfriend's very low-end Android phone, but apps — even Apple apps — crash all the friggin' time due to memory exhaustion. Assuming the experience upgrading an old Android to ICS would be similar, I'd say Google is simply doing better QA than Apple.
corin_ 15y ago
Can anyone explain why the US DoJ announced that they were OK with it less than four hours after the European Commission? They haven't come out and given it as a joint decision, but it seems too close to be a coincidence - had they just co-ordinated PR releases, or was one of them pushed into a decision by the other, or...?
- lambda 15y ago
  The DoJ announcement does say "During the course of its investigation of the Google/Motorola Mobility transaction, the Department of Justice cooperated closely with the European Commission." So yes, it does sound like the Google/Motorola portion of the decision was coordinated. The DoJ was probably waiting for the EC announcement before releasing theirs, or maybe they just agreed to release them the same day and the DoJ one was released a few hours later due to the timezone difference.
  - cube13 15y ago
    It's time zone differences. The 4 hour lag is the difference between Eastern US time during Daylight Saving Time and GMT. The EC announcement, assuming that the Google blog is on Pacific time, would be around 5-6 PM GMT. That's after normal trading hours ends, which makes sense for announcements like this. The DoJ announcement was at 5PM ET as well.
    - megablast 15y ago
      I think he was suggesting the coincidence of two independent investigations finishing at almost exactly the same time.
samstave 15y ago
Motorola made a lot more than just phones. Did Google buy all their radio business as well. Think about every Law Enforcement vehicle in the US; every single one of them has a motorola comm system in them. Will Google be making these?
- eco 15y ago
  They bought all of Motorola Mobility which includes all of their radio business.
  - scottmp10 15y ago
    It doesn't look like it would include government communications hardware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Solutions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Solutions
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- fluidcruft 15y ago
  Motorola split into Motorola Solutions (the robust, profitable part you're thinking about) and Motorola Mobility (the volatile, floundering part that was weighing Motorola down) early last year. Motorola Mobility are mobile phones and cable top boxes, that's the part Google bought. That other stuff is Motorola Solutions. After the split Motorola Mobility went into "ah oh, somebody better buy me or I might do something stupid" mode playing Microsoft and Google against each other. This is also when Motorola was leaking the rumors of a full private Android fork that cuts Google out (replacing the market, gps/navigation libraries, etc), threatening to sue other Android manufacturers, etc. After Microsoft/Apple et al got the Nortel patents, Google couldn't afford for Microsoft to also get Motorola's.
  - samstave 15y ago
    Great info. Thanks!
  - Zancarius 15y ago
dminor 15y ago
I'm hoping this leads to Android being developed completely in the open, with open-source drivers as well.
- rbarooah 15y ago
  How would this have that effect?
  - blario 15y ago
    As to drivers, what reason does Goggle have to not release the driver code? This would be helpful to us that still want to use the latest Android more than 2 years after we spend $800 on a nexus phone. Sadly, the binary that is always locked down is the modem. That might not have anything to do with the manufacture. Who knows what code carriers and requiring manufacturers I hide in there.
    - fluidcruft 15y ago
      I wouldn't hold your breath--in his recent State of AOSP post, about getting companies to support AOSP, JBQ wrote: "I've given up on HTC, Motorola and Qualcomm, as it's clear at this point that they're not going to help in that area" This was just before the CDMA/LTE (Qualcomm) devices were eradicated from AOSP. https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/75aLL1dWY2u https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/75aLL1dW...
      - blario 15y ago
        Now that Motorola IS Google, it'd be safe to say google is interested in helping google?
    - wmf 15y ago
      As to drivers, what reason does Goggle have to not release the driver code? What say does Google have over Infineon/Imagination/TI/Qualcomm/NVidia drivers?
  - 15y ago
joebadmo 15y ago
As a mildly disappointed Galaxy Nexus owner who significantly prefers Motorola hardware to Samsung's, I really hope this means truly outstanding Nexus devices in the near future.
joeybaker 15y ago
Anybody know a good place to see how much google had to spend on lobbies to get this through? It'll be interesting if it's high or low.

58 points by apetresc 15y ago

dsr_ 15y ago

The good: a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it. The bad: in the US, they still have to dicker with the wireless carriers. The ugly: every Android manufacturer will suspect they are being disfavored.

AndrewDucker 15y ago
I'm hoping that the ICS version of the Droid Razr doesn't have any extra stuff on it, but is just an Android phone.
- roc 15y ago
  The Droid brand is owned by Verizon. It would seem very unlikely for anything to come out under that brand that wasn't loaded up with the cruft that Verizon dictates.
  - wmf 15y ago
    OK, Nexus Razr then.
jrockway 15y ago
a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it Is the hardware between devices really all that different? Phones are basically giant screens attached to giant batteries. Where do you go from there? Put in CDMA and GSM radios that each do a bunch of frequencies, and you're done developing phones forever. (Even the iPhone 4 and iPhone 1 look approximately the same. Big screen. Home button. Power button / volume buttons / vibrate switch. Android devices are even simpler because they only need a power button.) The problem with phones is that they are all the same in an abstract sense, but all different with respect to drivers and hardware bugs. That means you can never write phone OSes like you can write desktop OSes, which is a huge drag on innovation. Imagine if you could choose between Ubuntu and Mint on your phone. Instead, you're stuck with whatever you get from your carrier, which is worse than nothing at all. Phones are all software these days, and the hardware manufactures cannot code their way out of a wet paper bag.
- freehunter 15y ago
  >you're done developing phones forever There are dozens of different form-factors. Take a look at the diversity of the Android or even the WP7 market. Landscape sliders, portrait sliders, 4.3", 3.7", 5", 3", some with dual core, some with quad core, some with AMOLED screens, some with SAMOLED screens, some LCD screens. Some with removable SD cards, various amounts of storage, various price points of the market. >Even the iPhone 4 and iPhone 1 look approximately the same That's because Apple designed them all the same. The way Apple designs their products does not have any relation to the amount of possible designs. >Android devices are even simpler because they only need a power button. Android phones are supposed to have four face buttons. This is not strictly required (allowing for variation), but the phones expect you to have four buttons. Windows has three. Apple has one. >you're stuck with whatever you get from your carrier Except there is a huge amount of variation in the custom ROM world, which many Android devices allow. >Phones are all software these days A common misconception that will at some point pave the way for true innovation in hardware like we've seen in the past when the smartphone market stagnated (then the iPhone was released and it was exciting again).
there 15y ago
This acquisition really has nothing to do with making Google-branded Android phones, and everything to do with acquiring a huge patent portfolio to defend against Android-related lawsuits. I predict that there will not really be much change in Google's or Motorola's device offerings and that other manufacturers will actually feel better post-acquisition, because now they will be further-protected by Google's patent portfolio.
Zirro 15y ago
"The good: a flagship Android phone that doesn't have to have a manufacturer's special sauce added to it." Is the special sauce added because they believe users appreciate it, or because they have some way to earn money from it? (Actually, as someone who haven't used Android devices much, what are the common ingredients used in the special sauce?)
- wmf 15y ago
  They want to get brand loyalty to their addons so that next time customers will buy the same brand phone. Also, I've heard that carriers would prefer if all the different Android phones they carry actually look different rather than all looking the same (or they could just carry fewer models).

melvinram 15y ago

I really hope that Google will make a commitment to consistently and quickly update all Motorola phones to the latest version of Android that the phone can handle so that it becomes the standard expectation from all phone manufacturers.

outside1234 15y ago
ha - they don't even do that with their phones!
- hack_edu 15y ago
  Actually they do. And if you are talking about the Nexus One or G1 in particular, no provider continues major-version support of 2+ year old phones.
  - e1ven 15y ago
    The iPhone 3GS was released on June 19, 2009, and runs the newest iOS releaes. That was 2 years, 7 months ago.
    - hack_edu 15y ago
      And not very well IMHO, probably about as good as a Nexus One would ICS. There is something to say for UX/UI standards.
      - redthrowaway 15y ago
        True that. iOS 5 is a dog on my 3gs, with unacceptable lag and intermittent crashes. If the LTE Galaxy Nexus were offered in Canada, I would have switched a month ago.
      - chc 15y ago
        I would just like to emphasize that this is not a cop-out. Not only does my top-of-the-line (when I bought it) iPhone 3GS with iOS 5 feel much more sluggish than my girlfriend's very low-end Android phone, but apps — even Apple apps — crash all the friggin' time due to memory exhaustion. Assuming the experience upgrading an old Android to ICS would be similar, I'd say Google is simply doing better QA than Apple.

corin_ 15y ago

Can anyone explain why the US DoJ announced that they were OK with it less than four hours after the European Commission? They haven't come out and given it as a joint decision, but it seems too close to be a coincidence - had they just co-ordinated PR releases, or was one of them pushed into a decision by the other, or...?

lambda 15y ago
The DoJ announcement does say "During the course of its investigation of the Google/Motorola Mobility transaction, the Department of Justice cooperated closely with the European Commission." So yes, it does sound like the Google/Motorola portion of the decision was coordinated. The DoJ was probably waiting for the EC announcement before releasing theirs, or maybe they just agreed to release them the same day and the DoJ one was released a few hours later due to the timezone difference.
- cube13 15y ago
  It's time zone differences. The 4 hour lag is the difference between Eastern US time during Daylight Saving Time and GMT. The EC announcement, assuming that the Google blog is on Pacific time, would be around 5-6 PM GMT. That's after normal trading hours ends, which makes sense for announcements like this. The DoJ announcement was at 5PM ET as well.
  - megablast 15y ago
    I think he was suggesting the coincidence of two independent investigations finishing at almost exactly the same time.

samstave 15y ago

Motorola made a lot more than just phones. Did Google buy all their radio business as well. Think about every Law Enforcement vehicle in the US; every single one of them has a motorola comm system in them. Will Google be making these?

eco 15y ago
They bought all of Motorola Mobility which includes all of their radio business.
- scottmp10 15y ago
  It doesn't look like it would include government communications hardware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Solutions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Solutions
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
fluidcruft 15y ago
Motorola split into Motorola Solutions (the robust, profitable part you're thinking about) and Motorola Mobility (the volatile, floundering part that was weighing Motorola down) early last year. Motorola Mobility are mobile phones and cable top boxes, that's the part Google bought. That other stuff is Motorola Solutions. After the split Motorola Mobility went into "ah oh, somebody better buy me or I might do something stupid" mode playing Microsoft and Google against each other. This is also when Motorola was leaking the rumors of a full private Android fork that cuts Google out (replacing the market, gps/navigation libraries, etc), threatening to sue other Android manufacturers, etc. After Microsoft/Apple et al got the Nortel patents, Google couldn't afford for Microsoft to also get Motorola's.
- samstave 15y ago
  Great info. Thanks!
- Zancarius 15y ago

dminor 15y ago

I'm hoping this leads to Android being developed completely in the open, with open-source drivers as well.

rbarooah 15y ago
How would this have that effect?
- blario 15y ago
  As to drivers, what reason does Goggle have to not release the driver code? This would be helpful to us that still want to use the latest Android more than 2 years after we spend $800 on a nexus phone. Sadly, the binary that is always locked down is the modem. That might not have anything to do with the manufacture. Who knows what code carriers and requiring manufacturers I hide in there.
  - fluidcruft 15y ago
    I wouldn't hold your breath--in his recent State of AOSP post, about getting companies to support AOSP, JBQ wrote: "I've given up on HTC, Motorola and Qualcomm, as it's clear at this point that they're not going to help in that area" This was just before the CDMA/LTE (Qualcomm) devices were eradicated from AOSP. https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/75aLL1dWY2u https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/75aLL1dW...
    - blario 15y ago
      Now that Motorola IS Google, it'd be safe to say google is interested in helping google?
  - wmf 15y ago
    As to drivers, what reason does Goggle have to not release the driver code? What say does Google have over Infineon/Imagination/TI/Qualcomm/NVidia drivers?
- 15y ago

joebadmo 15y ago

As a mildly disappointed Galaxy Nexus owner who significantly prefers Motorola hardware to Samsung's, I really hope this means truly outstanding Nexus devices in the near future.

joeybaker 15y ago

Anybody know a good place to see how much google had to spend on lobbies to get this through? It'll be interesting if it's high or low.