Google to sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo

Snax · 29 Jan 2014 at 22:26

http://investor.google.com/releases/2014/0129.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/lenovo-to-acquire-motorola-mobility.html

I think this is sad, Motorola has just released two great devices the Moto X and Moto G and looked to be ready to kick on. For Google to kick this venture into touch only spells bad news for users of android who don't want bloat filled, skinned phones IMHO.

canman · 29 Jan 2014 at 22:41

just posted this in the Motorola g thread, sorry didn't see yours first.
I hope they keep up with software updates.

thep02 · 29 Jan 2014 at 22:42

Lenovo are very ambitious though so it may not be all bad news, bit of a surprise though, I'll keep an eye on CNBC they like tech talk and both Motorola and Lenovo get a lot of mentions.

413x · 29 Jan 2014 at 22:42

Didn't see this coming. But don't think they ever really got into it

Keeps Samsung, LG etc happy

Silly Goose On The Loose · 29 Jan 2014 at 22:44

It's official now. Damn.

antijoke · 29 Jan 2014 at 22:46

Goodbye Moto.

Guess they kept the patents they wanted and got rid after that.

Caged · 29 Jan 2014 at 22:59

Bought for $12.5bn, sold for $3bn - of which only $660m is cash.

Bargain

ThestigGT999 · 29 Jan 2014 at 23:05

correct me if I'm wrong but google are keeping most of the patents tho

Caged · 29 Jan 2014 at 23:09

Aren't they all standards-essential patents that have to be licensed on fair terms and therefore of absolutely no use when it comes to trying to hold people over a barrel?

Brenn47 · 29 Jan 2014 at 23:23

Google doesn't want to put off other vendors from making their own Android phones. Smart move by Google.

djkav · 29 Jan 2014 at 23:39

Snax said:
For Google to kick this venture into touch only spells bad news for users of android who don't want bloat filled, skinned phones IMHO.

Not according to this story, where Google and Samsung are agreeing a 10 year deal. Which means that Samsung can deliver a streamlined Android with reduced bloat.

Source

lsg1r · 30 Jan 2014 at 00:12

Caged said:
Bought for $12.5bn, sold for $3bn - of which only $660m is cash.

Bargain

plus another 2-3bn on the set top box division they sold..

Motorola wasn't exactly bargain/purchase of the century but it's not like Google are going broke anytime soon lol

My biggest gripe is the fact that motorola is no longer 'google' meaning the Moto G I've got might not get any more updates...Lenovo aren't exactly known for android updates :mad:

photoshop · 30 Jan 2014 at 00:21

lsg1r said:
plus another 2-3bn on the set top box division they sold..

Motorola wasn't exactly bargain/purchase of the century but it's not like Google are going broke anytime soon lol

My biggest gripe is the fact that motorola is no longer 'google' meaning the Moto G I've got might not get any more updates...Lenovo aren't exactly known for android updates

Dont forget the couple of billion they saved in tax breaks.....

lsg1r · 30 Jan 2014 at 00:34

photoshop said:
Dont forget the couple of billion they saved in tax breaks.....

I didn't count that because pretty much every (large) company does that to varying degrees

kona786 · 30 Jan 2014 at 00:37

Will be ok if Moto stay as they are - just backed with Lenovo money?

Caged · 30 Jan 2014 at 00:49

lsg1r said:
Motorola wasn't exactly bargain/purchase of the century but it's not like Google are going broke anytime soon lol

They will if they keep buying companies for huge amounts, not paying much attention to them while something newer and shinier distracts them and then selling them off cheap because they're bored of it.

kona786 · 30 Jan 2014 at 00:57

Caged said:
They will if they keep buying companies for huge amounts, not paying much attention to them while something newer and shinier distracts them and then selling them off cheap because they're bored of it.

That's like saying they'll go broke if they sell all their shares for a penny - it won't happen.

deltalinx · 30 Jan 2014 at 01:01

I don't think it'll be bad.. Motorola have been working independently from Google since they was purchased by Google.. Dennis woodside etc will stay at motorola So there won't be many changes.

Caged · 30 Jan 2014 at 01:03

It's a little bit of an insight into the decision making process at Google though, or at least how it was two years ago. They went into the deal thinking Motorola's patents were worth a huge amount of money yet turned out to be SEP and worth pretty much nothing. And then Google were stuck with a phone manufacturer that they didn't really want.

They are nowhere near circling the drain but they are either playing a long game that will turn out to be completely genius, or they don't really know what they want to do next and so buy up anything that looks interesting.

lsg1r · 30 Jan 2014 at 01:26

Google are ALWAYS doing random stuff that 'just interests them', it's part of the google philosophy....

They're keeping the important parts from motorola, patents (which don't just cover mobile phones, they also cover web video which google is also heavily invested in right now) and the idea's people/department (skunkworks iirc) etc.

If you take notice of google's current direction you'll notice they're currently buying tech companies that relate to robotics and autonomous tools, they're getting into home automation (nest amongst others), they're doing driverless cars and they've got plenty of other 'toys' they're playing with. Google doesn't want to be just the search engine, they want to be into EVERYTHING that can remotely link up with their servers and help with their advertising money making.

There's also likely a thought out logic to the 'madness' in the same way as yahoo keeps buying all these 'start ups', it isn't so much for the program/software/hardware but more about the people that have worked on them, getting high grade tech people isn't easy supposedly.

Google to sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo

Mobster