Just over a week ago, Apple filed requests with the Western District Court of Wisconsin and the Southern District Court of Florida to put their current patent battle with Motorola at a stand-still. In the request, Apple argued that Motorola’s acquisition deal with Google created a situation in which Motorola does not have standing to litigate or settle legal disputes, as it has ceded its patent control over to Google.
Well, Motorola wasn’t cool with this plan and has asked the court to keep things moving along. In the 15 pages of legal jargon, Motorola says that if the court is leaning toward granting the stay for Apple, then Motorola would like the opportunity to fix its standing issues. → Read More
Motorola’s no stranger to shoehorning social media into their devices (I’m looking at you, MotoBlur), but a new device passing through the Bluetooth SIG website reveals just how serious Motorola is about Facebook integration.
Before we go any further, I’ll have to ask you to lower any expectations you may have about a Motorola Facebook phone. A little bit more. And… there we go. → Read More
January 5th. That’s when Motorola and Verizon first announced the DROID Bionic.
9 months grueling months later, it’s here. It’s seen delay after delay, and revisions to both its internal specs and its outward appearance have made the Droid Bionic we see launching today about as different from what was originally announced as any other Android handset hitting the shelves this month, but still: it’s rocking the Droid Bionic name, built by Motorola for Verizon, and it’s finally, finally here.
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The Droid Bionic has been a long time coming. It was originally announced back in January at CES and it’s now September, but we’re willing to forgive the incredibly annoying wait for that dual-core LTE magic. Especially since it’s been all but officially confirmed that we’ll be seeing the Bionic on shelves on September 8. → Read More
If you’re looking for a solid Android handset with a physical QWERTY keyboard, Motorola has a few nice offerings on the table. The Fire, the Droid Pro, and the XPRT all have their strengths, and another QWERTY keyboard-equipped smartphone will soon join the ranks.
Today, Motorola announced the Motorola Pro+, an Android device catered toward the enterprise. → Read More
Motorola’s super-sturdy DEFY+ handset was officially revealed in a press release only a few weeks ago, but a recent announcement confirms that the device will make its UK debut early this fall.
Forgot what the DEFY+ was capable of? Here’s a quick recap: the rugged Android handset packs a 1 GHz processor (a 20% improvement in speed over the proc found in the original DEFY), a 3.7-inch touchscreen display that’s covered by a plate of Corning’s Gorilla Glass, and a water-resistant, dust proof body. A 5 megapixel camera peeks out of the back, and the device comes with 2 GB of onboard storage and a 2 GB MicroSD card. → Read More
Quite a while ago, Verizon promised that its Motorola Xoom tablet would get an update allowing the slate to run on the carrier’s 4G LTE network by the Spring. If you’re somehow surviving under a rock and don’t know what that means, it’s a big deal. The increase in speed adds incalculable value to the tablet since, ya’ know, time is money. The only thing is that Spring came and went, and then Summer did the same. Still no update.
But alas, a letter has been sent out to… business and government Xoom owners? Um. Ok. So apparently employees of the government and other business types will be “piloting” the LTE Xoom before everyone else, according to Droid-Life → Read More
There’s a fine line between a bold advertising campaign and playing fast and loose with the truth, and it looks like Motorola may have just tip-toed over it. According to the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority, Motorola has been banned from calling their Atrix handset “the most powerful smartphone in the world.”
While the Atrix launched domestically back in February, it made its U.K. debut as an Orange exclusive this past May. Unfortunately, that launch window put it right up against the release of the Samsung Galaxy S II, which packs a a 1.2 Ghz processor into its svelte frame. ASA officials took issue with the fact that the Atrix, in spite of the lofty claims surrounding it, actually has a slower processor than the Samsung Galaxy S II.
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The era of Googorola is nearly upon us, and the implications of such a deal are still greatly unknown to most of us. We could see some pretty amazing (and odd) gizmos and gadgets spawn from this little get together, and we can definitely expect a stronger Android platform than ever before. Other Android OEMs have remained relatively at bay thus far, but that could change in an instant when they see the first flagship Moto handset with a purely Android experience. In fact, an end to MotoBlur may be the most exciting result of Googorola, indeed (at least to us end users). But there are a few things that need to happen first.
Google has obviously started on its trip through the obstacle course that is the United States regulatory approval system. In Google’s original statement on Wednesday, it claimed that the deal was subject to regulatory approval in the U.S., the EU, and other jurisdictions. Funny, one of those other jurisdictions happens to be one of the biggest in the world: China. And Google has yet to send China’s Commerce Ministry an application for approval. → Read More
Exhausted from a couple weeks in the European litigation ring, Apple has tagged in Microsoft to pick up the fight against Android. And it would seem that the divide-and-conquer strategy is panning out quite nicely for the duo we never thought would be.
Microsoft today filed a suit accusing Google’s betrothed, Motorola Mobility, of infringing on seven of Microsoft’s patents that just so happen to cover Android. Before the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, Microsoft requested an import ban on a number of Motorola smartphones. → Read More
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Seth Goldstein, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — sat in awe of Apple’s massive hammerlock on the tablet market. What the New York Times called 97% of the purchased category became crystal clear as HP folded its cards and went home to an uncertain future. @seth, founder of the viral music startup turntable.fm, seemed as thrilled with Spotify as he was with his own service. A complementary handoff from discovery to living in the new groove, with a tablet product on the way to supplement third party placeholders.
The session had a soft rhythm of exploration and dumbfounded amazement at what HP and RIM and Nokia were thinking when they jumped in with tablets for the remaining 3%. Did they have to try at least once before abandoning the PC, or play off the remaining 3 or 4 years on enterprise contracts, or believe in Windows Phone and Android activations? It would be laughable if real money weren’t involved, but instead these companies will have to turn to the record companies of all people for clues about how to finally make a transition into the Cloud. Or as @scobleizer pronounced it, iCloud. → Read More
It’s been an excruciating wait for the Droid Bionic — a truly painful seven months. But over the past month, we’ve gotten our hands on little bits of relief. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha promised a “September” release in late July, and just a week later, IGN found Verizon’s device road map which pegged the Bionic for a September 8 launch date.
Today we landed another hefty signal that the Bionic launch is nearly upon us. → Read More
This morning, HP admitted failure.
After spending $1.2 billion to acquire Palm, they announced that they were killing off the development of all smartphones and tablets running Palm’s webOS platform — including the just launched TouchPad. Having survived for just 49 days before its death, it’s tragic that TouchPad lived just one day longer than the oft-mocked Microsoft Kin.
webOS itself, as a platform, isn’t entirely dead. HP says they’ll “continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS”, which is really just a fancy way of saying “Yeah, we’re still not entirely sure what the hell we’re going to do with this thing.”
There’s a way out here, HP — and it’s all thanks to Google’s acquisition of Motorola. → Read More
In their statement regarding the Motorola Mobility acquisition, Google said that they would “run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.” I understand that to mean that they won’t simply be devouring them, firing redundant personnel, and Borging all Moto functionality into the Google name and brand. On the other hand, they’re not just going to let it ride and skim the profits (and patents).
Their business-level plans are still a matter for discussion, but what I’m really excited about is something else entirely: Google’s new playground for hardware.
The capacity for the creation of real objects within Motorola is huge. Google produces almost no real objects at all. Motorola designs and produces things meant to be held and put in pockets. Google designs and produces things that are unholdable, unpocketable. From some perspectives, it’s a terrible match, like Archie and Veronica. But something Google has, which I doubt they have in Motorola, and Microsoft and Apple almost certainly lack, is upward idea mobility. Google Hardware Labs, anyone? → Read More
While they have typically gone with proprietary tech, Delta has begun testing some off-the-shelf tablets for use as “electronic flight bags” for their pilots. The test program has 22 iPads flying the friendly skies, giving pilots access to flight charts, equipment manuals, and in-flight WiFi in a 1.6lb package.
Delta thinks that having iPads onboard will make for stronger communications between the flight and ground crews. They hope to be able to push up-to-the-minute information to flights from the control center, leaving the flight crew better able to handle changes in flight path, weather, and the occasional emergency. → Read More
The technology world is still reeling from the announcement of Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility. And today, Motorola announced the departure of William (Bill) R. Hambrecht from the Company’s Board of Directors. Following his departure, the Motorola Mobility Board of Directors will be comprised of nine members, eight of whom are independent.
Hambrecht, a well-known banker, founded and has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WR Hambrecht + Co since 1998. WR Hambrecht + Co is a financial services firm specializing in Internet and auction processes and providing underwriting and advisory services for technology and emerging-growth companies. → Read More
Bravo Google, well played.
There’s no denying that Google’s maneuver this morning to acquire Motorola for $12.5 billion in cash is remarkable. Everyone is talking about every possible angle of the deal, as they should. The summertime is usually the doldrums when it comes to tech news. Not this year. Google is pulling off an acquisition that is larger than any that Microsoft, Apple, or any of their other main competitors ever have. Larry Page, wartime CEO. Larry Page, maverick.
As the resident Apple enthusiast around these parts, many of you want my take on this — and many of you probably don’t want my take on this, but will end up reading it twice as much as those who do. But don’t worry, I’m not going to go all Dan Lyons and immediately run my mouth without thinking. I actually took the entire day to think about this, read over the insane amount of coverage (though I didn’t get through even half of it), and form some thoughts.
But my main thought is the same as my initial one: this is either the smartest thing Google has ever done, or the dumbest. There is no in-between. → Read More
With the announcement of their planned $12.5B Motorola Mobility acquisition this morning, Google is buying a lot of stuff. They’re buying 20,000 employees (almost doubling their headcount.) They’re buying an absurdly daunting armory of over 24,000 patents (I mean, come on: Motorola has the patent on the cell phone.) But there’s one more thing that Google’s buying, and it’s one that shifts up the Android game all together: nearly 30% of Android’s existing marketshare in the U.S.
After years of owning next to none of the hardware marketshare for their own software platform (even the so-called “Google phone” Nexus devices are made by HTC and Samsung), Google has just become Android’s 2nd biggest manufacturer. → Read More
Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility is, in the end, a mercenary effort to cement Android’s position in the handset ecosystem and to prop up a stalwart proponent of the platform. That’s fine. Google is a big company and it can now pick and choose – and buy – its own friends without input from the peanut gallery. But what does a Googorola merger mean?
First, we must understand that this is not a merger of equals. Motorola split itself in January after years of lagging phone sales. Motorola’s revenue dropped from a high of $10.6 billion to $4.89 billion in Q3 of 2010. They lost half of their portion of the handset market between 2008 and 2009, thus forcing the split from what is now called Motorola Solutions, a company that does everything except make handsets.
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One of the burning questions we all have after hearing this morning’s news of Google’s $12.5 billion bid for Motorola Mobility is: what does this mean for the next Nexus device?
Will Google leverage its acquisition to build Android phones that look and function exactly how Google wants them to, a move that would postion the company to compete more directly with Apple? Or will it continue to anoint one handset maker as the temporary “king” of Android devices through the same process it uses now? → Read More
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