Google to Buy Struggling Motorola Mobility
NEW YORK - August 15, 2011 -- Google agreeing today to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion gives the search giant a more significant direct involvement in the design and production of mobile phone hardware and shores up a valuable intellectual property portfolio during a time when legal maneuvering through patent holdings is plaguing the Android market.
A number of repercussions will result from this acquisition if it goes through. The Android platform is on its way to becoming the eventual leading OS in the smartphone market due to its wide OEM support. Does the growing support change for Android now that Google will be in direct competition with its licensees? Will the likes of Samsung, Huawei or even HTC adjust their strategies by emphasizing a competing platform? How will it affect Android future development? Android innovation relies on the contributions of its licensees, does it all freeze while this settles and how well can RIM and HP capitalize on this opportunity?
“Google has been relatively silent through the many legal problems its licensees have faced in defending Android,” says Kevin Burden, vice president and practice director, mobile networks. “All its licensees are now feeling their legal positions have just been reloaded, but their allegiance to Android may be more at risk.”
Beyond mobile phones and media tablets, Motorola Mobility has a healthy business in the digital home, namely broadband cable modems and set-top boxes. Its strategy has been to promote a “TV everywhere” solution. Google, in contrast, had its foray into this space with Google TV seen widely as an experiment. A tie-up between Google and Motorola could give Google the expertise it needs to be taken seriously and gain an eventual foothold in content deliver to the home.
ABI Research’s “Smartphone Technologies and Markets” study explores the leading IC and OS platforms and the outlook for these competing technologies. In addition, it examines technologies that are being integrated into smartphones as competitive differentiators by smartphone OEMs.
It is a component of the Smartphones & Mobile Devices Research Service.
ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 40+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.
|
Related News
- Lenovo to Acquire Motorola Mobility from Google
- Google cutting 20% of jobs at Motorola Mobility
- Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility
- Sharp, Motorola Mobility, and Kyocera Join Access Advance's HEVC Advance Patent Pool as Licensees
- Google Cloud Delivers Customized Silicon Powered by Arm Neoverse for General-Purpose Compute and AI Inference Workloads
Breaking News
- Alphawave Semi announced today a refocussing of the Board of Directors after reaching the three-year milestone since the Company's IPO
- Synopsys and Samsung Electronics Collaborate to Achieve First Production Tapeout of Flagship Mobile CPU with Leading Performance on Samsung Foundry's GAA Process
- Worldwide Silicon Wafer Shipments Dip 5% in Q1 2024, SEMI Reports
- GOWIN's progress in global automotive market gathers momentum with award of ISO 26262 certification for its FPGA design environment
- PCI-SIG® Announces CopprLink™ Cable Specifications for PCIe® 5.0 and 6.0 Technology
Most Popular
- Silvaco Announces Launch of Initial Public Offering
- TSMC's A16 Process Moves Goalposts in Tech-Leadership Game
- Radiation-Tolerant PolarFire® SoC FPGAs Offer Low Power, Zero Configuration Upsets, RISC-V Architecture for Space Applications
- Synopsys Accelerates Next-Level Chip Innovation on TSMC Advanced Processes
- QuickLogic Releases Aurora 2.6 with Expanded Operating System Support and Up to 15% Faster Performance
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |