Android Silver Devices

[Shilohcane]

To me this just sounds like a bs rumour and a pretty stupid idea from Google. Then again, they did purchase Motorola for $12.5 billion and then sold them in under 2 years for $3 billion, so Google are very capable of making some completely dumbass decisions from time to time.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but this sounds like a pipe-dream.

Wow what a rant. BTW, to your last point. Google purchased Motorola Mobility for their patent rights for court cases to keep them away for the Fruit company which Google keep when they sold just the name to Lenova for $3 billion. Google agreed to share those Moto patent rights with other Android manufactures to keep the Fruit company from going after them to undermined Android. BTW, Lenova is the #3 Android smartphone Mfg in the world but mainly sold in China. Moto will be their US product branding.

 

[xchange]

That patent protection is turning out to be fairly minimal from what I've been seeing.

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[I Can Be Your Hero]

That patent protection is turning out to be fairly minimal from what I've been seeing.

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Bingo.

Motos patents are mostly on technologies, ie; standard essential patents, not trade dress. The patents are worthless. Google tried to sue MS with those patents and it failed. Can't sue on standard essential technologies.

Once they failed at using the Moto patents to sue MS, then Google came out with 'oh yeah we'll only use our patents defensively'.

I like Google, think they do very well at what they do, but they do make mistakes. And the Motorola acquisition was a major, major, major blunder. I think it's good they sold them off as they overpaid for them in the first place and Moto was just bleeding money quarter on quarter left and right.

And I've said my piece about these Android 'Silver' devices. If this really is going to happen, they better be more than just GPE phones at retail stores....

 

[bunique4life05]

20,000 patents are what Google are sitting on. The patents used against Microsoft were just small few which I said not ever patent is worth billions. Business Analyst have compared net worth of Motorola patents more than $4.5 billion of Nortel patents. Nortel patent portfolio is only made up of 6000 patents. Google again has 20,000 and 7,000 more to be approved. They have at least 4.5 billion worth patents

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2011/08/15/google-buys-motorola-and-its-giant-patent-portfolio/

"Yes, $12 billion is a lot to pay for that privilege. But, unlike the $4.5 billion an Apple/Microsoft-led consortium payed for the Nortel patents not too long ago, that $12 billion buys a lot of other tangible assets that Google can sell off. It wouldn?t surprise me if Google?s expenditure on the deal actually nets out to less ? and Motorola?s patents will be much heavier artillery than Nortel?s. Motorola, after all, was making smartphone precursors like the StarTac well before the Danger hiptop or the iPhone; it*will*have blocking patents."

Google really only spent 4 billion on Motorola in the end. Google bought Moto for 12.5 billion the then sold the company for about 3 billion. They spent 9.5 billion on Moto but went acquire Moto they also took Moto 3 billion cash the company had saved. Now Google has spent only 6.5 billion. Lastly before selling company Google sold individual properties of Moto for about 2.5 billion in total. Therefore Google spent about 4 billion on company with patents worth more than 4.5 billion at least. I may not be able to convince you but facts remain the same.

http://gigaom.com/2014/01/30/google-paid-4b-for-patents-why-the-motorola-deal-worked-out-just-fine/
"Sure, Google bought the company for $12.5 billion and sold it for around $3 billion, but that doesn?t necessarily mean it was a bad deal from a patent perspective. While the spread suggests Google lost its shirt, the amount it will*actually spent on Motorola at the end of the day is around $4 billion ? and it?s keeping the patents."

"The $4 billion figure, as analyst*Benedict Evans,*the*New York Times*and*Bloombergnoted, results from the fact that Motorola had around $3 billion in cash on hand, and from the $6 billion Google recouped from selling off units of the device maker."

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Moto Patent Portfolio worth at least 4.5 billion....

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[Scott7217]

And I've said my piece about these Android 'Silver' devices. If this really is going to happen, they better be more than just GPE phones at retail stores....

Perhaps the retail presence of Android Silver devices is just to target average consumers. Advanced users will probably just order phones directly from Google, and it'll be the same like the Nexus program, only with a different name.

 

[tcm1969]

Android Silver

Google wants to put "Nexus" phones in carrier stores to get "pure Android" into more customers hands. Enter Android Silver. Exit everything we love about the Nexus. Of course the price will go up but the one thing that stands out is "with minimal carrier bloat". We all know what that means.... AT&T Family Map, AT&T Navigator, AT&T Blah, Blah, Blah.....


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[Shilohcane]

Motorola's patents aren't worth jack crap. Motos patents are patents like radio frequency patents and stuff like that. Things that are considered standard essential patents that the courts won't let you sue for. That's what the majority of their patents are, technologies, not trade dress.

This was proven when Google tried to sue Microsoft for $4 billion a year using Motos patents, the outcome? $1 million and that's it.

There is no way in hell Google's finance team thought 'hey let's buy a company for $12.5 billion and sell it off for a quarter of what we bought it for in under two years'. Sorry, I'm not buying it. That's just a boneheaded decision any way you try to slice it.

The patents are worthless. Google have tired to use them to sue people, and been told they're worthless. The Motorola acquisition was a snap decision and it turned out to be a bad decision.

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Wrong Moto's pattens sent Apple packing from court against Google. This proves those Moto Pattens were worth a ton of money against the Fruit company that could have gone after every Android smartphone Mfg independently. Now Google that still owns those pattens will be able to keep the Evil Fruit Company at bay..;

Apple Inc. AAPL and Google Inc. GOOGL agreed to drop all lawsuits between them, setting aside one of the many issues that divide the two technology giants controlling the smartphone world.

The truce covers Apple's patent litigation with Google's Motorola unit. Motorola sued Apple for patent infringement in 2010, and Apple countersued.

Until Friday, Apple and Google were locked in about 20 lawsuits against each other in the U.S. and Germany. In a statement by the two companies, Apple and Google said the truce didn't include an agreement to license each other's patents. The companies said they would work together in "some areas of patent reform."

Google with Moto had the patten for figerprint reader with the Motorola Atrix 4G as security feature to unlock phones that Apple copied with the i5s that would have cost Apple billions.

 

[Scott7217]

Re: Android Silver

Of course the price will go up but the one thing that stands out is "with minimal carrier bloat". We all know what that means....

The price will probably just reflect Google dropping its phone subsidy. Wasn't it around $100 for the Nexus 5?

As far as carrier features are concerned, maybe we can expect wifi calling (like on T-Mobile) and MMS on Google Voice (like on Sprint).