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Google Buys Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Billion

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numble said:
Firestorm, according to Nielsen, Motorola had 11% of the US smartphone market.
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Yeah, I remember seeing that. I was wondering if Motorola had another really popular single device or if it was more just a bunch of different devices. Canada and the US are completely different worlds! Motorola has 11% US smartphone market in the US whereas Android as a whole only has 12% in Canada (as of March anyway, must be a good amount higher now).
 
scorcho said:
how would this run afoul the DOJ? Motorola has a ridiculously small share of the smartphone market.
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The same reason Microsoft faced DOJ scrutiny even though Netscape started with much higher marketshare--subsidization of one product line through profits in another (here, search), especially when those revenues come from ad revenue on competitors phones, be it Google ads or AdMob.

Everything passes DOJ scrutiny anyway.
 
It would be interesting to see how Google uses Motorola. They need to use them to create a phone that can go heads and tails above the rest of the Android market.
 
cartoon_soldier said:
It would be interesting to see how Google uses Motorola. They need to use them to create a phone that can go heads and tails above the rest of the Android market.
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And in doing so fuck all of the rest of the Android OEMs off. Bad idea, they have to keep the patents and dissolve/spin off the handset maker.
 
Are you guys serious? Motorola basically kickstarted the whole "droid" thing.....they definetley lost their way after the razr but their line up of phones now is pretty solid

Regardless, google is not buying them for the phones they make
 
Few world about Motorola success (or lack of) in mobile market:

Motorola shipped 11 milllions phones in 2q of 2011 of which 4.4 millions were smartphones and 0.44 mln Xoom tablets. Their smartphone business is quite a bit smaller than HTC (12.1 mln.) and even SE (around 5.3 mln). Net loss was 85 mln USD, a bit less than in previous quarter (89 mln).

Motorola's American smartphone lineup is pretty good but the company fails to bring competitive products to Europe (and probably rest of the world) which in the end leaves them with pretty low global sales. Their last high-end product in Europe was Motorola Milestone (which fought with HTC Desire for smartphone crown in Europe) - GSM version of first Droid - but it still was few month after US debut. Milestone 2 (Droid 2) came too late and the prices never drop enough to compete with other high-end droids. Droid X still isn't av
 
While this will work in Google's favor by allowing them to compete in the mobile space uninhibited, it isn't going to 12.5 BILLION work out for them.
 
Patriots7 said:
Sony is not worth $80B and haven't been since the early 2000's. They're around $24B
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If someone came to buy them they would need to offer something in that region to buy them. Right now Sony are very undervalued because of the Tsunami fall out, they have a target of around $30-35bn and a bit would have to be in multiples rather than premiums given the scope of the business being bought (media and consumer electronics).
 
At first I thought this was a smart move by google, but after reading some comments on the net I think this is the stupidest thing they could of done. Now that they make the phones the tech companies can go after them directly now, they can no longer hide behind open source.
 
Motorola is a pioneer company, whom will go after them? Either Ericsson or Nokia... Google could by Ericsson patents
 
cartoon_soldier said:
It would be interesting to see how Google uses Motorola. They need to use them to create a phone that can go heads and tails above the rest of the Android market.
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And piss off their other licencees? The ones who have made Android so popular?
 
Jadedx said:
At first I thought this was a smart move by google, but after reading some comments on the net I think this is the stupidest thing they could of done. Now that they make the phones the tech companies can go after them directly now, they can no longer hide behind open source.
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I'm sure we guys on the net know better than the idiots who run Google.

Google won't have a problem with lawsuits now, just like Motorola didn't really have any. Like the Motorola CEO said last year, it's part of the business.
 
zomgbbqftw said:
If someone came to buy them they would need to offer something in that region to buy them. Right now Sony are very undervalued because of the Tsunami fall out, they have a target of around $30-35bn and a bit would have to be in multiples rather than premiums given the scope of the business being bought (media and consumer electronics).
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I completely agree that Sony is undervalued currently, for a host of reasons not even including the Tsunami. However, I frankly cannot see an $80B valuation for Sony.
 
zomgbbqftw said:
Shut it down.
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What if it's making money? I know Moto lost money last year/quarter (?) but if their dumb phones are making some cash, why kill that stream? Gotta make back that $12 billion somehow.
 
Pretty interesting that Nokia's shares have risen over 10% after the news. People buying Nokia are probably hoping that some company acquires them next since they are REALLY undervalued at the moment
 
brotkasten said:
I'm sure we guys on the net know better than the idiots who run Google.

Google won't have a problem with lawsuits now, just like Motorola didn't really have any. Like the Motorola CEO said last year, it's part of the business.
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Motorola did have a good number of lawsuits going againsts them from; MS, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, imagine, and a few others.
 
Patriots7 said:
I completely agree that Sony is undervalued currently, for a host of reasons not even including the Tsunami. However, I frankly cannot see an $80B valuation for Sony.
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To buy they would be. Their business has so much scope and they are involved in literally every market in the world in every sector. That they have been so poorly managed wouldn't make them cheap to buy since the sum of all their parts adds up to a lot.
 
sikkinixx said:
What if it's making money? I know Moto lost money last year/quarter (?) but if their dumb phones are making some cash, why kill that stream? Gotta make back that $12 billion somehow.
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It probably isn't making money, and Google don't really have any use for any handset unit, especially one which makes dumbphones. That $12bn will pay for itself as it puts Android on a very sure footing going forwards in terms of patents and IP. There won't be any more spurious law suits from Apple to keep more nimble competitors out of the market.
 
Jadedx said:
Motorola did have a good number of lawsuits going againsts them from; MS, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, imagine, and a few others.
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Again, part of the business.

UWBlt.jpg
 
Hah it appears the google guys started talking mess about patents after they knew the motorola deal was done and they were getting some hefty patents of their own.
 
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/aus...otorola-mobility/story-e6frgakx-1226115575061

The acquisition will give Google Motorola's trove of more than 17,000 patents on phone technology.

Google recently lost to a consortium that included Microsoft, Apple and Research In Motion in bidding for thousands of patents from computer-networking software Novell, and Nortel Networks, a Canadian telecom gear maker that is bankrupt and is selling itself off in pieces

Motorola has nearly three times more patents than Nortel.
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take that and stuff it up your arse... evil consortium of G-haters
 
Copernicus said:
White spectrum Nexus phones with DIDO are gonna be awesome.

<3
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If the that technology works as is promised and Google buys them out...now that would be MEGATON!! Doubt it will happen, the buyout I mean.


http://thisismynext.com/2011/08/15/google-motorola-patents-for/

First, as Google general counsel David Drummond noted on the conference call announcing the deal, nothing can really happen until the deal closes. That’s going to take some time, since the acquisition needs to be approved by regulators in the US and Europe. Until then, Motorola’s on its own, although I’d imagine the lines of communication between the two companies will be wide open.
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Once the deal closes, Motorola will be run as a separate business, but it sounds like Google will take formal possession (called an “assignation”) of Motorola’s 12.5k issued patents and 7500 patent applications. That’ll give the company the right to sue others with them and/or license them out.
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There are three major cases that this acquisition will affect, and Google will have to negotiate each one individually. The end goal for Google in each case will be to acquire a broad patent license that covers the entire Android ecosystem and then indemnify all of its partners against further patent lawsuits, which could be quite challenging — and potentially quite expensive. Let’s look at the outstanding cases.
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WordAssassin said:
This is what I'm thinking. If they can pull an Apple and be in control of the whole production pipe from designs to hardware to OS software, then that's a good thing for Android users. Gonna finally have some smooth phones.
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b-b-but open!
 
motorola is one of those top tier 3G, 4G, networking vendor giants. They make most of their money from basestations and infrastructures, this can only be good for google.
 
hteng said:
motorola is one of those top tier 3G, 4G, networking vendor giants. They make most of their money from basestations and infrastructures, this can only be good for google.
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They bought the handset division, not the networking side.
 
zomgbbqftw said:
They bought the handset division, not the networking side.
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lol thanks, i just reread the post, silly me

Google Inc. (GOOG)’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. includes a reverse breakup fee of $2.5 billion, according to a person close to the situation.
Google would pay Motorola Mobility that sum if it walks away from the deal or if it fails to win regulatory approval, said the person, who declined to be identified because the detail hasn’t been disclosed.
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a... a break up fee? does that mean motorola can walk out of the deal and STILL get 2.5Billion? holyshit
 
Zombie James said:
Huh? How does the possibility of being able to design and manufacture a phone themselves go against their open philosophy?
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it doesn't. Ignore little troll baby. He obviously has no serious or actual input judging by his 6 character reply.
 
Jadedx said:
Motorola did have a good number of lawsuits going againsts them from; MS, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, imagine, and a few others.
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how does Huawei sue anyone? They are reverse engineering champs
 
hteng said:
lol thanks, i just reread the post, silly me



a... a break up fee? does that mean motorola can walk out of the deal and STILL get 2.5Billion? holyshit
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Yup pretty standard for buyouts like this.
 
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