Post by garfield3 on Aug 5, 2013 8:44:03 GMT
Moto X is Motorola's chance to break free of the middle
When Google first bought Motorola Mobility a couple years ago for $12.5 billion, the industry assumed it would use the historic mobile phone producer to take over the Android market, ensuring that Android devices ran the pure Android user interface and eliminated the awkward skins and all-over-the-map quality marking many Android makers. Instead, Google basically chased out Motorola's key employees, shut down its 3LM security group, and teamed with Motorola rivals to produce a series of mediocre Nexus smartphones and Nexus tablets under the Google brand.
The industry has been scratching its head over Google's rationale for buying Motorola and all but eviscerating it at a cost of more billions of dollars. Maybe its patent portfolio was worth the money, so why keep the hardware? Having a manufacturer on hand to use as a weapon against Samsung if ever needed seems too pricey a stick. As a foundation for innovation, the Motorola purchase was also puzzling, given Motorola's history of so-so phones punctuated occasionally by hits like the StarTAC and the original Razr. Most of the time, Motorola focused on middling products that it would milk far too long.
When Google first bought Motorola Mobility a couple years ago for $12.5 billion, the industry assumed it would use the historic mobile phone producer to take over the Android market, ensuring that Android devices ran the pure Android user interface and eliminated the awkward skins and all-over-the-map quality marking many Android makers. Instead, Google basically chased out Motorola's key employees, shut down its 3LM security group, and teamed with Motorola rivals to produce a series of mediocre Nexus smartphones and Nexus tablets under the Google brand.
The industry has been scratching its head over Google's rationale for buying Motorola and all but eviscerating it at a cost of more billions of dollars. Maybe its patent portfolio was worth the money, so why keep the hardware? Having a manufacturer on hand to use as a weapon against Samsung if ever needed seems too pricey a stick. As a foundation for innovation, the Motorola purchase was also puzzling, given Motorola's history of so-so phones punctuated occasionally by hits like the StarTAC and the original Razr. Most of the time, Motorola focused on middling products that it would milk far too long.