Google buys Motorola Mobility

[staknhalo]

So I'm sure most of you have heard by now that Google bought Motorola Mobility. The main reason for this was acquisition of patents for the mobile phone market. But Motorola Mobility is also the division that controls/makes the Cable TV/set top boxes. This and the acquisition of Sage TV has me very intrigued to the future of Google TV. You can read about the many aspects of the buy here:

http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techz ... bility.htm

[Moderator edit: Topics Merged]

[richard1980]

I feel a GoogleTV STB DVR coming to market sometime....

If one does come to market, I have a feeling this will be the final nail in the coffin for Microsoft's connected home push and WMC.

I've said it in the past...Microsoft should have produced a DVR box based on WMC and CableCARD tuners. They didn't, and now Google has all the tools to do just that (well, it'll be based on SageTV).

[newfiend]

Ya.. this makes me wonder how this will affect Microsoft's 3 screens initiative.. Mobile, PC, and TV.. this ought to get interesting..How does the acquisition of Motorola Mobility affect the rest of Motorola as a whole? Did they buy the whole company or just the "mobility" part?
Well i guess we won't be seeing a Motorola Windows Phone 7 Handset now..
newfiend~

[SilverRubicon]

I don't see a successful Google TV set top box coming to market. This acquisition doesn't solve any of the problems of the current GoogleTV. Namely a terrible UI and little to no content.

[gpatlanta]

I think you may have missed the additional comment about Sage. With the purchase of sage, the get a better UI and access to better content capabilities with a very pluggable architecture which they would hopefully maintain.

[richard1980]

I'm not genius, but I would think Google could easily modify the GoogleTV software to fit in a nice little firmware update for the millions of STBs they just bought....

[dmagerl]

How does the acquisition of Motorola Mobility affect the rest of Motorola as a whole? Did they buy the whole company or just the "mobility" part?
newfiend~

Motorola Mobility was split from the main company at the beginning of the year. So Google just got the handset/stb portion of the business.

So Motorola, which once consisted of semiconductor, automotive, 2way radio, stb, cell handset, cell infrastructure divisions, is now just 2way radio. If the business plan was to shrink the company, they were quite successful.

[trooper11]

well this will either mean we see MS accelerate thier plans to expand into the tv market or they pull back and focus solely on the 360 as thier place in the living room.

i would think since MS has already invested so much in the ip tv push, along with getting win7 embedded rolling out, that they would like to get some dvr-like box out there, i just dont think they can get enough companies to go along with it.

google has bought thier way into the market. now they can push google tv to a much broader audience, even avoiding having to sell it directly to a consumers. So now, they dont have to cater to you, the consumer, they just have to make sure the likes of Comcast, etc, are happy and continue to adopt motorola products, which will now be running google tv software, that much I think is assured.

my feeling for MS is that they would need a similar aquisition in order to make the dream of such a dvr to come true. MS cant simply wave a magic wand and do it, they have to do with alot of companies to make it happen. otherwise, i think the best we will see is the 360 being evolved more and more towards an all around media device (as the new dashboard update this fall clearly points to). MS isnt going to release thier own dvr hardware and fall into the same trap Google did with Google TV.

[STC]

I'm just waiting for Richards 'this is all
speculation' post

[newfiend]

Ya but you know we ALL like to "speculate".. lol
This happens with 99.9% of the News topics that hit here. But this is also what makes it fun/interesting. Everyone has different points of view and info on the topics and thats what makes this board not only a great place for info but fun to read as well.
So Richard.... the floor/board is yours..

[gpatlanta]

I agree. We get to read basically nothihg new except wild @$$ guesses, although they are often entertaining, until some minor announcement comes out after many months of speculation that makes us all say, "crap, so what do you think they'll do next." then repeat...

[richard1980]

i would think since MS has already invested so much in the ip tv push, along with getting win7 embedded rolling out, that they would like to get some dvr-like box out there, i just dont think they can get enough companies to go along with it.

Well, first I wasn't talking about a "dvr-like box". I was talking about an actual DVR. Second, what companies are you referring to that wouldn't go along with Microsoft selling a DVR?

MS cant simply wave a magic wand and do it, they have to do with alot of companies to make it happen.

I guess the people over at Acer/Gateway stole Microsoft's magic wand... Luckily, I have a time machine that can take us all back to CES: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/gate ... ed-standa/

Acer/Gateway has the right idea...at least if they bring it to market at the right price and throw some marketing money at it. That's of course assuming it ever makes it to market. Microsoft should have been in this market 5 years ago. But no, they are lazy and wait around for someone else to do the dirty work.

MS isnt going to release thier own dvr hardware and fall into the same trap Google did with Google TV.

That makes no sense, considering GoogleTV is not a hardware device made by Google, nor does it have anything to do with watching or recording live TV. Can you explain what you are referring to?

I'm just waiting for Richards 'this is all
speculation' post

Well it is ...although I must say there is way more evidence that Google is trying to get into the TV market than there is evidence that Microsoft is dropping WMC from Windows 8, or the Xbox fall update will stop the Xbox from being an extender.

[richard1980]

I'm not genius, but I would think Google could easily modify the GoogleTV software to fit in a nice little firmware update for the millions of STBs they just bought....

Looks like I might be right: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/ ... OY20110827

[newfiend]

So Google purchased Motorola Mobility for 12.5 Billion. http://www.techspot.com/news/48698-goog ... llion.html
What do you guys think the odds are that MS purchases Nokia next.. Nokia is struggling financially. Do you think MS would purchase Nokia to enhance its Mobile platform to compete? I think the odds are pretty good.
newfiend~

[mark1234]

I think their current deal allows MS to get what they want out of Nokia without the expense of having to buy them outright.

[mark1234]

Could Facebook buy Nokia?

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... xpert_says_?

I'll not be betting on this one.

[newfiend]

Could Facebook buy Nokia?

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... xpert_says_?

I'll not be betting on this one.

Anything is possible.. However I think unlikely that FB would aquire Nokia. Nokia is IMO Microsoft's Premier WP7 hardware partner next to Samsung and HTC. With Nokia having financial issues and MS needing good/great Hardware manufacturing partners I could see MS purchasing Nokia so they can compete on a level hardware wise with Apple and their iPhone... I don't know though.. I'm just speculating and am probably full of it. I think MS could benefit more from the purchase than FB, but I'm also no Billionare so what do I know...lol
newfiend~

[newfiend]

And then there's this rumor.. http://wmpoweruser.com/rumour-samsung-l ... lion-euro/
Hmm.. makes me wonder...
newfiend~

[richard1980]

And now they're trying to dump the set-top-box division.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-2 ... iness.html

[richard1980]

I'm not genius, but I would think Google could easily modify the GoogleTV software to fit in a nice little firmware update for the millions of STBs they just bought....

Looks like I might be right: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/ ... OY20110827

Apparently not. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-2 ... iness.html