> And yeah, Google isn't in the position of competing with companies that it needs. Why not? Motorola's Moto X is pretty high end and Google is spending $500M

> And yeah, Google isn't in the position of competing with companies that it needs. Why not? Motorola's Moto X is pretty high end and Google is spending $500M on just advertising it this year[1], beating Samsung's and Apple's ad spending. In watching a couple of hours of primetime TV in the US, I usually see 3 to 4 Moto X ads, and almost the same number of Windows 8/Surface ads. However, sales seem to be quite sluggish[2]. Motorola can't be making all that much money on Moto G and it seems to be Google's loss leader just like Microsoft's Lumia 520/521 at $69 to $99 unlocked(Surprised the article didn't mention it at all or compare it against the Moto G, it's a surprisingly fast phone for that price). Meanwhile Motorola's losses continue to grow every quarter and continue to be a drag on Google's earnings [3] . I guess the pressure is on Motorola to deliver, but even if this phone sells well, I doubt it's going to help them unless they're going to make money from ads and/or Google Play sales on those phones. [1] http://9to5google.com/2013/07/11/moto-x-would-be-most-heavily-promoted-smartphone-ever-if-googles-planned-500m-spend-is-true/ http://9to5google.com/2013/07/11/moto-x-would-be-most-heavil... [2] http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-motorola-moto-g-moto-x-20131113,0,1287681.story#axzz2mqkumSRE http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-motorola... [3] http://mobilenewsblog.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Screen-Shot-2013-10-18-at-10.26.36.png http://mobilenewsblog.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Sc...