“Years before Google’s announcement of its $12.5 billion proposed purchase of Motorola Mobility, the two company had been in intersecting orbits,” Amir Efrati reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Around the time Sanjay Jha first joined Motorola in 2008, the company was quietly looking for a potential buyer for its then-beleaguered mobile division,” Efrati reports. “Google engaged in brief discussions with Motorola at that time, said a person familiar with the matter, in small part because Google was eyeing Motorola’s giant patent trove.”
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Efrati reports, “In early 2010, as Google became more serious about acquiring patents, it resumed a hunt for Motorola’s mobile business among other potential acquisition targets that could beef up Google’s portfolio, according to the person familiar with the matter.”
Read more in the full article here.
Further proof that googles “patents are bogus” and “we’re open” positioning is a load of BS.
Somehow “the press” loves Google, and does not like Apple for being marketing king.
In fact, Google is one huge PR stunt — from top to bottom, from their “do no evil” to their everyday blabbering on basically everything.
Apple just keeps quiet, does not whine, does not advertise vaporware, does not brainwash public with pseudo “freedom” staff, and yet hypocritical media love to dislike Apple and like to love Google.
Sorry, few things have to be corrected:
1) Apple is accused of being marketing king, while this is not true (the company does relatively modest marketing, more in like “let products speak for themselves”, rather than countless press conferences, interviews, press-releases on non-existing products).
2) In the last phrase, of course, “stuff” meant, not “staff”. ;))
Google spends money on catering to the press, Apple spends little to nothing.
The media “loves” Google because Google is the newest kid in town to make it big, so it has the underdog role, but most importantly, Google actively seeks to talk to the media. If you refuse to talk to the media, they come after you.
I think it’s more about Google feeding the press the bytes it wants to hear in volume. They constantly release “great new products” for “free” and offer “choice”. By the time anyone in the mainstream media could call them out (if they wanted to), they’d move onto the next announcement of great free things borne out of Google’s sheer benevolence.
That, and I suspect that almost no one in the media could tell you how Google makes its money.
The press is aware of Google, but I wouldn’t say the press loves Google.
It is hard to watch network news and particularly financial news without mention of Apple, usually in a positive light.
Whenever a new Apple product is announced, most newscasts talk about it and show people waiting in line etc. I am happy to point out that no other company gets the kind of coverage that Apple gets, for newnproducts and services.
So I disagee.
I talk more about “professional” “IT” “geeky” media. They have tons of Google fans there.
“Then” beleaguered?
Motorola goes back and forth from losses to minimum profits to this day.
Motorola is a roller-coastal company. Its history is full of short periods of plenty alternating with long periods of famine. It has more winters than springs. Google is getting a high-cost dud.
You’re talking about the cell-phone division, the cable side has been a much more consistent money-maker. I wonder what Google with do with the cable division?
August 17, 2005 — GOOGLE buys Android inc. Mobile software.
Google acquired Android Inc. in August 2005, making Android Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Google Inc. Key employees of Android Inc., including Andy Rubin, Rich Miner and Chris White, stayed at the company after the acquisition.[24]
Not much was known about Android Inc. at the time of the acquisition, but many assumed that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market with this move.[citation needed
And reports say that Andy Rubin was invited to the talks with Motorola until the 11th hour when the deal was all but done. Wecome “Middle” management, Andy.
On October 17, 2007, Apple announced that a native Software Development Kit (SDK) was under development and that they planned to put it “in developers’ hands in February”.
I’ve tuned out whatever bullshit Google puts out of its PR machine. Makes no difference to me what the heck they do. I don’t use Google products apart from search & YouTube. That’s only because Bing doesn’t seem to be able to step up its game. I do realize that the search results Google serves up are nothing but PageRank generic shit. It’s difficult to find specific stuff on Google search these days. I hope those idiots immolates their cash cow by diversifying into totally unrelated business areas.
APPLE created XCODE in 2003.
XCODE is the core to DEVELOPING iOS from that day.
2003 Android Inc. was researching it’s ideas for mobility OS.
Google buys Android in 2005.
The Newton was made in 1987. Manufacturing and Engineering was handled by Motorola. The Palm Pilot – March 10, 1997.
APPLE is PROTECTING it’s invention and does not wish the PC history to happen again.
AS nice and as fun as YOUTUBE is… companies like SONY need to SUE the pants off GOOGLE. Music in more then 75% of the content on YOUTUBE is not owned by those posting videos. YES, the responsibility claim is in those who post the videos – to have the rights to the materials – however – GOOGLE is housing this stuff – ITS the parent here. TIME to CLOSE EVERYTHING on there DOWN. NAPSTER this.
Fun as it would be to strip these assets out of Google’s hands, this would be horrible policy, worthy of the evil and stooopid RIAA and MPAA.
The Fair Use doctrine ACTUALLY provides integration of media into new people’s lives, generating interest, good will and sales. It’s free marketing. Draconian copyright fascism kills all of the above, yet another form of what I call this era’s sick ‘Marketing Moron’ syndrome, aka customer abuse, a core cause of our ongoing economic depression. 😯
Sounds like Google should have acquired Motorola earlier – probably would have saved a few $B. In addition, we all would have benefited from having Google accelerate its timetable for spiraling downwards into oblivion.
“according to the person familiar with the matter”
You can put that in the bank. No, wait, you can’t.
I don’t see Google going anywhere anytime soon. I’m sure they will continue to grow and, in turn, generate some interesting products. Rather than look at this as the stepping-stone to a great fall, why not look to where they could go with this. In the end, this can only be good for me, as a fanboy, by riding the heels of Apple.
I would be happy to tell Google where to go!
Google is GOing to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple once the courts get done with it.
I wonder if Google used the “Pi” to bet for Motorola.. lol
Is the good larry still laughing about how much Apple, Microsoft, Rim and the other paid for Modern network patents from Nortel? How does 12.5 B from 1 single company (google) stacks against 4.7B paid by 5 companies?
4.pi~=12.5.
Apple is leading and planning.
Google is reacting and scrambling.
Android is nothing else than a desperate attempt by Google to react to Apple’s reinventing the mobile space.
They are scared shitless.
“One former Android executive boasted that Google employees has, on average, 20 IQ points more than their Motorola counterparts.”
Probably true, but still not a good quote for publication in the Wall Street Journal.
Motorola employees only have an I.Q. of 10? Huh, never would’ve guessed that.
I guess Google really falling in love with “bogus patents” a lot. May I suggest Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric T. Mole should fall in love with real “bogus women” too… you know… “women without pussies” type 🙂