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I'm surprised that Google hasn't used Motorola to make a nexus device yet. Samsung seems to be doing pretty well for themselves making android devices, it does

by Sumaso 14y ago

I'm surprised that Google hasn't used Motorola to make a nexus device yet. Samsung seems to be doing pretty well for themselves making android devices, it doesn't seem too much of a stretch for Motorola to do the same.

redthrowaway 14y ago
They likely want to get Motorola's house in order first and make sure they have the product people necessary to make a great device, before they entrust them with doing so. Worse than Moto being a loss leader for a few quarters would be a $12B acquisition falling flat with its first major release.
- zmmmmm 14y ago
  My personal theory / guess (and let's face it, we're all guessing) is that Google doesn't particularly want motorola for phones at all. I think they've decided they need an in-house capability to produce hardware in general and they intend to suck all the juice out of Motorola and then discard its corpse so that they have the ongoing ability to invest in R&D for hardware like Google Glass, self driving cars, etc. Just like they decided years in advance of needing it that they had to have a mobile OS in their arsenal, they've now decided that strategically they have to be able to produce hardware. Not because they want to but because there are strategic initiatives they can't pursue without that. Think of it as the biggest acqhire in history (+ a boat load of patents, of course).
  - redthrowaway 14y ago
    That's certainly possible, but I still think they intend to make Motorola a maker of vanilla Android phones, to pressure the other OEMs to either improve or ditch their "differentiating" skins and the like, as well as to provide a reasonable baseline upgrade path. I'll admit that a part of me simply wants Google to make Motorola the company that produces true iPhone competitors, but I also don't think it unrealistic to imagine that they'll use the resource as a way to drive the rest of the ecosystem forward, while hopefully making money with great products at the same time.
Steko 14y ago
Google obviously depends greatly on their partners for Android's success and giving the Nexus business to their subsidiary right off the bat would probably end up sending Samsung, HTC, et al into forkland. That said Google is supposed to be making a better effort to keep all of the A list Android handset makers more in the loop instead of just working with one at a time and dumping it on the others with the Nexus launches.
jusben1369 14y ago
I always thought they just wanted a big portfolio of patents in mobile to fight Apple. I agree, early on, that the early Google phones were a way to kind of kick their partners in the rear to step up their game. Now though they have. I doubt Google could surpass the Samsung phones. Perhaps they could equal them but why would you do it for just that reason given the channel conflict you're creating?

by Sumaso 14y ago

redthrowaway 14y ago

They likely want to get Motorola's house in order first and make sure they have the product people necessary to make a great device, before they entrust them with doing so. Worse than Moto being a loss leader for a few quarters would be a $12B acquisition falling flat with its first major release.

zmmmmm 14y ago
My personal theory / guess (and let's face it, we're all guessing) is that Google doesn't particularly want motorola for phones at all. I think they've decided they need an in-house capability to produce hardware in general and they intend to suck all the juice out of Motorola and then discard its corpse so that they have the ongoing ability to invest in R&D for hardware like Google Glass, self driving cars, etc. Just like they decided years in advance of needing it that they had to have a mobile OS in their arsenal, they've now decided that strategically they have to be able to produce hardware. Not because they want to but because there are strategic initiatives they can't pursue without that. Think of it as the biggest acqhire in history (+ a boat load of patents, of course).
- redthrowaway 14y ago
  That's certainly possible, but I still think they intend to make Motorola a maker of vanilla Android phones, to pressure the other OEMs to either improve or ditch their "differentiating" skins and the like, as well as to provide a reasonable baseline upgrade path. I'll admit that a part of me simply wants Google to make Motorola the company that produces true iPhone competitors, but I also don't think it unrealistic to imagine that they'll use the resource as a way to drive the rest of the ecosystem forward, while hopefully making money with great products at the same time.

Steko 14y ago

Google obviously depends greatly on their partners for Android's success and giving the Nexus business to their subsidiary right off the bat would probably end up sending Samsung, HTC, et al into forkland. That said Google is supposed to be making a better effort to keep all of the A list Android handset makers more in the loop instead of just working with one at a time and dumping it on the others with the Nexus launches.

jusben1369 14y ago

I always thought they just wanted a big portfolio of patents in mobile to fight Apple. I agree, early on, that the early Google phones were a way to kind of kick their partners in the rear to step up their game. Now though they have. I doubt Google could surpass the Samsung phones. Perhaps they could equal them but why would you do it for just that reason given the channel conflict you're creating?