Please keep making stock handsets, Moto. And keep assembling phones in the US.
fixed for you
Google selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $3B
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fixed for you
Davis_McGee
Member
Neither of the companies responsible are software companies.
You're timeline may be off just a bit, unless you consider Nokia to be a software company (only they didn't make the Windows Phone OS, ofc). The Lumia 520 was released in May 2013, and Microsoft didn't announce that they were going to buy Nokia until September.
Lenovo has some mid-specced affordable phones in their home and other markets, like the A850, so they seem to understand the opportunity that's there in selling that kind of kit from at least a certain vantage point.
Anyways, I don't see anything changing in the short term as far as products Motorola under Google would have put out from the way they handled the Think Group acquisition and from Lenovo's CEO's comments about wanting to release something in the US market in a short timespan. In the longer term, we'll see.
heh
JJDinomite
Banned
I really hope Lenovo doesn't go out of business because of this.
Phoenix
Member
Ni Hao Moto.
Lenovo already makes hardware in the US. So not sure why it's laughable to think it could stay the same with Motorola.
along with having Samsung stop making Touchwiz be the ugliest thing in the world.
So Google sucks those juicy patents out of Motorola and spits out its chewed, dried-out husk for less than what it paid for Nest.
It makes sense though. Google doesn't really care about selling hardware and it probably wasn't in their best interest to potentially piss off big players like Samsung if they feel Google has a vested interest in a competing manufacturer.
Still, I wonder what'll happen to stuff like the Moto G which is pretty unique in the android ecosystem. Google could afford to sell it for no profit but Lenovo will probably kill it as soon a they can.
It makes sense though. Google doesn't really care about selling hardware and it probably wasn't in their best interest to potentially piss off big players like Samsung if they feel Google has a vested interest in a competing manufacturer.
Still, I wonder what'll happen to stuff like the Moto G which is pretty unique in the android ecosystem. Google could afford to sell it for no profit but Lenovo will probably kill it as soon a they can.
Looks like they do, but only since last year. Well then, I delol my lol.
Junior Mint
Member
well considering samsung steals everything, they have to be careful with getting too close!
Well Google are keeping one part of Motorolla according to The Verge Google to keep Motorola's Advanced Technology group, including Project Ara modular phone
Phoenix
Member
It was promising except for that the cultures were not compatible. Chat with someone familiar with the development of the MotoX and you'll learn more about that. Moto needs to belong to someone like Lenovo so that they can be brought under control. If Google had kept them around, they would have burned billions more trying to reinvent the place and it would have likely ended up the same way.
Google is better off building their consumer brand off the Nexus and pushing strongly into the marketplace with it IMO. Google Play Edition is just a compromise to keep people happy.
I was wondering about that, that's good to hear.
The Moto X was Motorola's first phone assembled in the US, and for obvious reasons (turnaround time). Same reason Lenovo opened a plant in the US.
Pizza con salsiccia
Banned
Does that mean no further updates for my Moto G ?
They have a similarly specced phone that they announced would retail for $219 unlocked. So it's easy to imagine that any new projects would retail for a bit more than the $189 precedent Motorola under Google set, but only a bit.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
I got a Moto G for Christmas...what does this even mean?!
BertramCooper
Banned
There was a rumor floating around yesterday that Google was going to end the Nexus brand next year.
That seems even more absurd after this news.
That seems even more absurd after this news.
I just don't understand why people are upset about this. Does Lenovo have a bad reputation? As far as I know their laptops (ThinkPad line specifically, which they bought from IBM from 2005) are considered to be good quality stuff.
Lenovo is probably a better match anyway. Google seems to be focused on software and "innovation" anyway. Under Lenovo we'll probably get more stuff like the Moto G but possibly even better and cheaper, and more high end phones to match the ThinkPad line.
Lenovo is probably a better match anyway. Google seems to be focused on software and "innovation" anyway. Under Lenovo we'll probably get more stuff like the Moto G but possibly even better and cheaper, and more high end phones to match the ThinkPad line.
Moto will just become a part of Lenovo sometime during your contract. What exactly are you worried about?
I imagine Moto has contracts with carriers to support the phone to a certain point and this wouldn't break that.
And unless Lenovo decides to push something into all the phones (unlikely); it will remain a stock Google phone like it is now.
These are mostly considered standard essentials and thus won't do them any good in the court. The reason most fear Apple is that they are sitting on a gold mine of design and non-essential patents.
so then they should have sold the patents to Lenovo. But they kept them and got less money for Moto Mobility.
The Faceless Master
Member
BLU
Just to clarify those saying this sale is costing google 9.6 Billion, saw this post on G+ (emphasis is mine):
Nicolas Charbonnier
Nicolas Charbonnier
Mr. Wonderful
Member
Motorola's patents are definitely not worthless. Some are essential for every phone in the US to function, and Motorola chose to never enforce their patent protection so that we can all use cellular technologies.
This sounds like complete baseless speculation. I mean, noone can prove it wrong, but as far as I know there's nothing out there that solidly suggests this at all. Samsung wants in on GLASS hardware, and Im sure cross licensing patents has benefit for both sides.
Yeah I'm not sure why people are throwing 9b in losses around. Its not even remotely close to that. There's more to things than just the sale prices. They didn't lose anywhere near that much on this. And they retained the patents and the Advanced Tech Group + its patents and staff which was probably the best thing Moto had going. 1.5B for what they have gotten out of this overall isn't that bad. Especially when Nest goes for twice that much.
On the flip side its disappointing because under Google Motorola put out what was by FAR their absolute best smartphones to date. Not even the original Droid can comparatively (for its time) hold a candle to the X and the G.
ThatObviousUser
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diffusionx
Gold Member
And there is more to it than just looking at dollar figures then and now.
There is surely plenty else Google could have done with that money to generate a higher return. I really doubt anyone at Google thinks the acquisition was a success. This was, undoubtedly, a bad deal that didn't come near to justifying the price.
sixteen-bit
Member
Keeping the patents, huh? That's why they bought them in the first place so nice deal for them.
They're probably keeping it not because they wanted it, but because Lenovo was smart enough to not buy such an awful idea and any person who thought it was a smart idea to try to turn PhoneBloks into a real thing.
As literally the entire universe of mobile integrated chip design is working on integrating more parts on a single chip - CPU, GPU, cellular, wi-fi, bluetooth, NFC, and more - to dramatically improve performance, battery life, and reduce costs, they think it's a good idea to break them up again and undo more than a decade of progress?
...Ignoring the fact that the plastic/casing which makes up phones is a significant portion of the price of the phone...and this just increases the ratio of casing to silicon.
...Ignoring the fact that in most phones the battery takes up the vast majority of volume, so unless you want to take a huge hit to battery capacity, you won't have any room left for more "bloks"...after you also consider the fact that breaking things up into individual components will drastically reduce battery efficiency.
Lenovo was either incredibly smart to not buy Ara and the team that backed it, or they dodged a massive bullet.
Technosteve
Banned
there is no such thing as a google phone eh
terrisus
Member
They announced the A859 at CES, a mid-spec phone for around $200. They've maintained a series (the A series) of low priced mid-range handsets in every territory they sell phones, so there's some positive news on that front.
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