Man, talk about a jump start to my morning. Waking up and the first thing I see plastered across the news? Google is going to buy Motorola Mobility.
Wow! That’s better than coffee! I’m awake and I didn’t even have to do a spit-take!
Now that I’ve recovered from the surprise of that, a few thoughts on Google buying Motorola for $12.5 billion (in the rough order that they went through my head):
1. Whoa! What?
2. NO MORE MOTOBLUR! YEAH!
3. I wonder what HTC, Samsung, etc. think of this?
4. I really hope Google knows what it’s doing here.
5. This software-vendor-making-hardware thing didn’t work out so well for Microsoft and Apple; maybe it will work out for Google?
In my mind this acquisition is incredibly risky. Google risks alienating their other hardware partners. This is something that Microsoft did with the Zune, Apple did at one point with Mac OS, and both times it ended badly, with Microsoft losing all of its audio partners, and Apple ultimately canceling the OS licensing program when Mac OS 8 came out. Now, Google isn’t struggling like Microsoft was in audio or Apple was in general, so it could end up differently. Google could use this to create a series of high end Nexus phones intended to show others what’s possible with Android, and upon which other licensees will innovate on their own. Google could also end up creating the best Android phones with the best hardware support and the best battery life (tight hardware-software integration like this has its perks).
This is a risky move for Google, as shown by the responses of their other hardware partners; they’re all very guarded. They praise the patent and intellectual property support that Google is showing through this acquisition, but otherwise the statements are almost all the same. It’s actually a little creepy to read them. Sony Ericsson and HTC statement’s differ by one word. Literally.
For what it’s worth, here are their statements:
“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.”
– J.K. Shin
President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division
“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Bert Nordberg
President & CEO, Sony Ericsson
“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.”
– Peter Chou
CEO, HTC Corp.
“We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D
President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
That’s not exactly what I’d want to see if I were Google. They’ve got serious cojones for doing this, but I’m interested to see how it turns out in a year. Make no mistake, us here at Gagagadget will be watching this acquisition with extreme interest.
