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ScottM

ScottM

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iBazinga!
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-ne...and-its-patent-portfolio-for-125-billion/3752

Google has stunned those watching the mobile space with the announcement today that it has purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash. Motorola was early onto the Android platform and has gone all in with it over other alternatives. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha recently indicated that the company might be looking to bring its patent portfolio to go after other Android device makers; those companies should be breathing a little easier now that Google owns those patents.
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Interesting!

Is "Motorola Mobility" Motorola's entire mobile phone enterprise, or some subset thereof?
 
SCCutler said:
Interesting!

Is "Motorola Mobility" Motorola's entire mobile phone enterprise, or some subset thereof?
Click to expand...
Motorola split into to 2 companies at the end of last year. Motorola Mobility is the handset and cable box guys. Motorola Solutions is the police/fire/business radios. Motorola Solution sold all of its cellular infrastructure business to Nokia-Siemens Networks. This announcement means that Motorola in any form is no longer in the cellular business.

When this deal shakes out and gets approved and I doubt there is any reason to think it won't, it will be interesting to see what happens with Android if Google is going to be in the phone business. There are competitors to Google in that case. Some that are far better at implementing the Android OS into phones than Motorola Mobility was.
 
Does Motorola no longer have any semiconductor ops? That was the part for which I once worked (CMOS).

God, I am old.
 
ScottM said:
This announcement means that Motorola in any form is no longer in the cellular business.
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty amazing turn of events. Motorola, the inventor of the first practical cell phone really failed to compete for YEARS starting in the late 90s when new competition was popping up. The Razr was hot for a while but that was a bit of flash in the pan. They were just sorta beginning to turn things around with their latest crop of 4G phones and now they get bought out.

I can live with $40/share though. :D
 
SCCutler said:
Does Motorola no longer have any semiconductor ops? That was the part for which I once worked (CMOS).

God, I am old.
Click to expand...
They got rid of the semiconductor group years ago. That company is called Freescale.

About 8 to 10 years ago Carl Icahn got his hooks into Motorola and decided that they would be worth more as a bunch of separate companies than one big one. An interesting idea but a lot of other stock holders were hostile to that idea. But that does not deter Carl. A fight began in which all of Sr. Management spent their energy fighting instead of developing any new businesses. Motorola went on a slide and never recovered. Carl one, got his guys on the board and started selling pieces for pennies on the dollar. What is left of Motorola now is smaller than what they were in the 1960s. Even what they have left they now depend on their arch rival in the police and fire communication business to supply them with equipment. It is just a matter of time and even Motorola on first responder radios will be a memory. BTW Motorola Solutions was the last US company that was making cellular infrastructure. There are no more companies in the US doing that. It is all Chinese, Korean or European. That is where the innovation in communication moved in the last 10 years.

Even Cisco is falling apart in the IP world. For as much as there is a information revolution, the real innovation is passing us by.


A real interesting question about this acquisition is does this mean that Microsoft may pick up a handset vendor? Both RIM and Nokia are ripe for the picking!
 
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ScottM said:
A real interesting question about this acquisition is does this mean that Microsoft may pick up a handset vendor? Both RIM and Nokia are ripe for the picking!
Click to expand...

If that happened, would that mean a 'Google' phone is really a Motorola. And a 'Motorola' phone would really be a a Nokia or Blackberry? Good grief.. :mad2:

I just got my Motorola Droid 3 on Friday (after switching from a BB 9630). I really like it so far. I thought Moto was making some headway with their 'Droid' branded lines.
 
As I see it, this is as much about the patent portfolio as anything else. Google missed out (didn't want to pay up) for the Nortel portfolio, and a number of the makers of Android handsets were vulnerable (as was Google, I suspect).

This changes the playing field & gives Google a bargaining chip.

Will they choose to compete in the handset market? They got out of that once when they stopped selling the Nexus One. Maybe they choose to make handsets, maybe they sell the manufacturing operations. As long as they have the patent portfolio they've accomplished what they need to.

I suppose they could close off the operating system and go the route of Apple by creating a walled garden that limits what folks can do. Given that they don't have the array of integrated products (desktop, laptop, phone, tablet) that they need to cross-sell, I don't see 'em walling off the OS.

It's far easier said than done to move from a long-intrenched software company to selling hardware. Apple's done it by creating a cult, with very narrow parameters of what's allowed and what's prohibited. Google has traditionally been more open on the application side.

Microsoft & BB? If there's enough IP there, I can see it. Tough to see them buy it for the phone/data sales....
 
wsuffa said:
As I see it, this is as much about the patent portfolio as anything else. Google missed out (didn't want to pay up) for the Nortel portfolio, and a number of the makers of Android handsets were vulnerable (as was Google, I suspect).

This changes the playing field & gives Google a bargaining chip.

Will they choose to compete in the handset market? They got out of that once when they stopped selling the Nexus One. Maybe they choose to make handsets, maybe they sell the manufacturing operations. As long as they have the patent portfolio they've accomplished what they need to.

I suppose they could close off the operating system and go the route of Apple by creating a walled garden that limits what folks can do. Given that they don't have the array of integrated products (desktop, laptop, phone, tablet) that they need to cross-sell, I don't see 'em walling off the OS.

It's far easier said than done to move from a long-intrenched software company to selling hardware. Apple's done it by creating a cult, with very narrow parameters of what's allowed and what's prohibited. Google has traditionally been more open on the application side.

Microsoft & BB? If there's enough IP there, I can see it. Tough to see them buy it for the phone/data sales....
Click to expand...
The IP has a lot to do with it. The announcement today from Google stated that they will indeed compete in the handset business, using Motorola Mobility as a separate division from the main part of Google. Nexus One did indeed stink because Google had no idea of how to sell to operators. Motorola sort of knows how to do that.
 
ScottM said:
The IP has a lot to do with it. The announcement today from Google stated that they will indeed compete in the handset business, using Motorola Mobility as a separate division from the main part of Google. Nexus One did indeed stink because Google had no idea of how to sell to operators. Motorola sort of knows how to do that.
Click to expand...

Google never really intended to sell the Nexus One to operators. They were trying a "new" model of selling the unlocked handset directly to consumers. Tough to compete when you're selling against a subsidized price. Cellphone companies have gotten folks accustomed to "cheap prices", even if folks pay more in the long run for the privilege (not just cellphone, but everyone from cars to airlines to .....)

Will be interesting to see if they can make manufacturing/selling work for them. Industry is littered with the carcassas of mergers that have failed because of cultural/product/management misalignment. I'll give Google credit if they can pull it off, but I'd not be surprised to see it sold at some point in the future.

It's a lot more than selling to operators: it's about culture, management philosophy, and manufacturing knowledge. Compounded by the need to consolidate financial systems and reporting to meet SarbOx requirements.
 
Something else that not too many people are catching onto in the press on this one is that Motorola Mobility has a very large Cable TV set top box business. This acquisition gives Google an in with their Google TV ideas with a group that they have not had a lot of success with.
 
wsuffa said:
It's far easier said than done to move from a long-intrenched software company to selling hardware. Apple's done it by creating a cult, with very narrow parameters of what's allowed and what's prohibited. Google has traditionally been more open on the application side.

Microsoft & BB? If there's enough IP there, I can see it. Tough to see them buy it for the phone/data sales....
Click to expand...

Apple didn't do it, they started as a hardware company then integrated software to have "their way" and control of everything stupendous.
 
Definitely an interesting twist. Motorola Systems (the radio 2-way spin off) has been utterly raping the U.S. Taxpayer for years now under the guise that building APCO P-25 digital radios is "expensive" and each radio lists for $5000 new. Every cop-car, ambulance, fire truck... If they wanted to stay a "Motorola shop" shelled out the cash. Billions. NTIA created a market for Motorola to screw everyone under the guise of "open standards" which Motorola never has, nor never will, follow -- in the two-way world. They "extended" the feature-set of P25 to the point where you must run all Motorola for all features to work properly.

Serious question: Folks talk about Apple having a "walled garden" or "prohibiting" things. The only things I know of are that they don't play well with Bluetooth and that's about it on the desktop.

On the mobile devices, you can certainly load MP3s and play them, the mail clients handle IMAP, POP, and even Exchange, etc.

There's no "prohibitions" other than their branded tools push you toward their stuff, IMHO. And that Jobs has a hard-on against Flash. With Adobe's recent spate of security patches, that may have been the right call, honestly. Business-wise, Adobe is far harder to get along with than Apple.

Apple requires you go through their store to add Apps to the devices. That's the biggie, I guess. Plenty of folks jailbreaking to get around that one and alternate App "stores".

I'm curious what other "prohibitions" are bothering folks. I have a feeling Android will end up the same way (as the above) under Google... Or at least they'll say "unsupported" when stuff breaks outside of their "garden" too?
 
denverpilot said:
Definitely an interesting twist. Motorola Systems (the radio 2-way spin off) has been utterly raping the U.S. Taxpayer for years now under the guise that building APCO P-25 digital radios is "expensive" and each radio lists for $5000 new. Every cop-car, ambulance, fire truck... If they wanted to stay a "Motorola shop" shelled out the cash. Billions. NTIA created a market for Motorola to screw everyone under the guise of "open standards" which Motorola never has, nor never will, follow -- in the two-way world. They "extended" the feature-set of P25 to the point where you must run all Motorola for all features to work properly.
Click to expand...
It is Motorola Solution not systems BTW. And trust me, NTIA had more than a little help. The cost of an APCO25 mobile is nothing compared to the cost of the infrastructure to support it. There is a reason Greg Brown (CEO of Motorola Solutions) kept the public safety business and it had everything to do with the sales margins and walled gardens of development. BUT Motorola Solution failed when they sold their cellular pieces. Motorola Mobility and the Network group in Motorola Solutions is where LTE was being developed. LTE is the next generation public safety standard as well as the cellular standard. Motorola Solutions had to turn to its arch public safety competitor, Ericsson to get equipment built for them. You will still pay an arm and a leg for Motorola Solution LTE public safety, but they will pass a lot of that money to the Swedes. How long do you think it will be before the Swedes just cut out the Motorola middle man?
 
denverpilot said:
Definitely an interesting twist. Motorola Systems (the radio 2-way spin off) has been utterly raping the U.S. Taxpayer for years now under the guise that building APCO P-25 digital radios is "expensive" and each radio lists for $5000 new. Every cop-car, ambulance, fire truck... If they wanted to stay a "Motorola shop" shelled out the cash. Billions. NTIA created a market for Motorola to screw everyone under the guise of "open standards" which Motorola never has, nor never will, follow -- in the two-way world. They "extended" the feature-set of P25 to the point where you must run all Motorola for all features to work properly.

Serious question: Folks talk about Apple having a "walled garden" or "prohibiting" things. The only things I know of are that they don't play well with Bluetooth and that's about it on the desktop.

On the mobile devices, you can certainly load MP3s and play them, the mail clients handle IMAP, POP, and even Exchange, etc.

There's no "prohibitions" other than their branded tools push you toward their stuff, IMHO. And that Jobs has a hard-on against Flash. With Adobe's recent spate of security patches, that may have been the right call, honestly. Business-wise, Adobe is far harder to get along with than Apple.

Apple requires you go through their store to add Apps to the devices. That's the biggie, I guess. Plenty of folks jailbreaking to get around that one and alternate App "stores".

I'm curious what other "prohibitions" are bothering folks. I have a feeling Android will end up the same way (as the above) under Google... Or at least they'll say "unsupported" when stuff breaks outside of their "garden" too?
Click to expand...
Can't do Java on iOS either, so a bunch of the stuff on aviationweather.gov fails. That also appears to be true on Android, though.
 
Henning said:
Apple didn't do it, they started as a hardware company then integrated software to have "their way" and control of everything stupendous.
Click to expand...

That's what I was gonna say... Apple started as a hardware company, and for the most part is still a hardware company. They write good operating systems so that they can sell more hardware, not so they can sell software. Mac OS major upgrades are down to $29, and iOS upgrades are free.

Secondarily, they're a content-distribution company. They're the largest seller of music in the world, and they sell TV shows, movies, and software.

Being a software development company only barely makes the list. iWork, iLife, and some of the more prosumer and professional media software is about all they do other than operating systems.
 
ScottM said:
How long do you think it will be before the Swedes just cut out the Motorola middle man?
Click to expand...

Not long if the folks Ericsson nabbed from Lynchberg (GE) have anything to do with it, I'd guess. Some of the best two-way folks I know ended up at Ericsson, after/during the Tyco debacle.
 
So far, BTW, I only see about $29 worth of stuff in Lion anyway.

Upgraded the new MacBook.

It gets a solid "meh" from this reviewer. ;)

They busted DNS again too.

/etc/resolv.conf -- don't bother touching it. And /etc/nsswitch.conf already disappeared in Snow.

Bring up a manual ppp connection from the command line and watch some applications that use the old Unix files work -- and some that have been recompiled to use mDNS (ping for example) not work.

Totally inconsistent and a really crappy job of swapping out a system library.

If you're gonna switch, port everything.

To fix it you have to use command line tools that manipulate databases.

Pretty soon the damn thing will have a Windows Registry, 'cause apparently writing something that could work properly with Unix conventions was too difficult. Sigh...
 
Google will now be the largest manufacturer of cable set-tops and GoogleTV hasn't really caught on. This could be interesting.
 
ScottM said:
BTW Motorola Solutions was the last US company that was making cellular infrastructure. There are no more companies in the US doing that. It is all Chinese, Korean or European. That is where the innovation in communication moved in the last 10 years.

Even Cisco is falling apart in the IP world. For as much as there is a information revolution, the real innovation is passing us by.
Click to expand...

Oh dear, the innovation escapes the broken patent regime towards a lax one. Who could foresee it!

Of course Apple is already suing the pants off Samsung: even banned the Galaxy Tab in Europe. They'll just get us stuck in the stone age (we're already in the bronze age thanks to telco carteils).
 
denverpilot said:
They busted DNS again too.

/etc/resolv.conf -- don't bother touching it. And /etc/nsswitch.conf already disappeared in Snow.

Bring up a manual ppp connection from the command line and watch some applications that use the old Unix files work -- and some that have been recompiled to use mDNS (ping for example) not work.
Click to expand...

Jeez Nate, is System Preferences -> Network just too damn easy for you? :rofl:
 
denverpilot said:
/etc/resolv.conf -- don't bother touching it. And /etc/nsswitch.conf already disappeared in Snow.

Bring up a manual ppp connection from the command line and watch some applications that use the old Unix files work -- and some that have been recompiled to use mDNS (ping for example) not work.
Click to expand...

English is required on this board.
Please make a note of it.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Jeez Nate, is System Preferences -> Network just too damn easy for you? :rofl:
Click to expand...

Trust me, I tried. ;)

Worked with manual ppp connections in Snow (other than nsswitch.conf and no way to force hosts prior to servers) but dead now.

Really causes a problem for SSL VPNs. Cisco's VPN client is broken as well as the one my employer uses.

I know in Apple's world there's nothing but PPTP and IPSec but the rest of us had working VPNs that are busted by the lack of backward compatibility to oh... Every other Unix box on the planet. :(

Hacked a work-around, but it's awful OS design. Truly bad. Half-baked.
 
zaitcev said:
Oh dear, the innovation escapes the broken patent regime towards a lax one. Who could foresee it!

Of course Apple is already suing the pants off Samsung: even banned the Galaxy Tab in Europe. They'll just get us stuck in the stone age (we're already in the bronze age thanks to telco carteils).
Click to expand...
This had nothing to do with patents as everyone of the teleco companies was and still, filing their patents in America, Europe and parts of Asia like China, Japan and Korea.
 
Last login: Tue Aug 16 22:30:09 on ttys002
Nate-Duehrs-MacBook-Pro:~ nduehr$ man english
No manual entry for english
Nate-Duehrs-MacBook-Pro:~ nduehr$ apropos english
English(3pm) - use nice English (or awk) names for ugly punctuation variables
Nate-Duehrs-MacBook-Pro:~ nduehr$ man English


English(3pm) Perl Programmers Reference Guide English(3pm)

NAME
English - use nice English (or awk) names for ugly punctuation
variables

SYNOPSIS
use English qw( -no_match_vars ) ; # Avoids regex performance penalty
use English;
...
if ($ERRNO =~ /denied/) { ... }

DESCRIPTION
This module provides aliases for the built-in variables whose names no
one seems to like to read. Variables with side-effects which get
triggered just by accessing them (like $0) will still be affected.

For those variables that have an awk version, both long and short
English alternatives are provided. For example, the $/ variable can be
referred to either $RS or $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR if you are using the
English module.

See perlvar for a complete list of these.

PERFORMANCE
This module can provoke sizeable inefficiencies for regular
expressions, due to unfortunate implementation details. If performance
matters in your application and you don't need $PREMATCH, $MATCH, or
$POSTMATCH, try doing

use English qw( -no_match_vars ) ;

. It is especially important to do this in modules to avoid penalizing
all applications which use them.

perl v5.12.3 2010-11-21 English(3pm)
 
I, for one, hope they use the name Google-rola. That would be awesome! :rofl:
 
I've had three Motorola Cells. The original BAG, a startac which kept running until Verizon moved off analog, and my current 'Droid X. About the only things I am disappointed in (with Motorola} are the DROID X 2 isn't 4G and the XOOM has to be returned to upgrade to 4G.
So far, I like my Androids. I've had the X for a year and the XOOM for about 3 months.
Motoroid. GooMoto. GoogleMo. Googl'EM.
 
I like how the text-to-speech pronounced patents, "Pay-tents"... kinda true, actually. :rofl:
 
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