Motorola Nexus? No, that purchase was “mostly about the patents”

Answering to various questions related to Google’s recent new product announcements, John Lagerling, Google’s director of business development for Android, revealed during an interview with The New York Times details about potential Motorola Nexus plans. Just don’t get too excited!
The executive talked mainly about Google’s new Nexus devices that were announced on Monday, via press releases instead of an actual media event that was canceled because of Hurricane Sandy, praising some of their features. Another important highlight for Lagerling is the Nexus 4’s entry price of $299 (that’s the full retail price for the 8GB Google Nexus 4), a price that he personally negotiated.
But here’s the bit that got our attention:

Q. Where does Motorola stand in all this? You haven’t used them yet for the Nexus program.
A. They stand where Sharp would stand, or Sony would stand or Huawei would stand. From my perspective as a partnership director, they are another partner. We are really walled between the Motorola team and the Android team. They would bid on doing a Nexus device just like any other company.
Q. So how does Google take advantage of the Motorola acquisition?
A. The way I understand it is, it’s mostly about the patents, the way you can sort of disarm this huge attack against Android. We talked about prices. There are players in the industry who were unhappy about more competitive pricing for the consumers. They want to keep the prices high, they want to force the price to be so high that operators have to subsidize the devices very highly. That’s not only the Cupertino guys but also for the guys up in Seattle. They want higher margins, they want to charge more for software.
We simply believe there’s a better way of doing it without extracting that much payment from end users, because there are other ways to drive revenues. Patents were used as a weapon to try to stop that evolution and scare people away from lower-cost alternatives. And I think with the Motorola acquisition we’ve shown we’re able to put skin in the game and push back.

In case you forgot, Google’s Motorola subsidiary that cost the company $12.5 billion is still bleeding money quarter after quarter. Users would have expected Google to at least launch one Nexus-branded device made by Motorola this year, or at least have the devices that were announced after the acquisition was finalized to run Google’s most recent Android OS version.
Neither of these things happened. And from the looks of it, a Motorola Nexus device is not yet a priority, as it was all about those patents.
During Google’s Q3 quarterly earnings report, company officials revealed that a Motorola Android device made to accommodate Google’s Android needs – therefore a Nexus device – may only be made at some point next year.

As for timely Jelly Bean updates, Google did introduce a cashback program for Motorola device owners that will not get a Jelly Bean upgrade for their smartphones and/or tablets. But it failed to offer actual timely updates for existing and new handsets.
Sure, Google did say that it won’t favor Motorola in any way now that it owns the communications device maker. And Google repeated these statements quite a few times, to make it clear for its other Android partners that it won’t screw them over by offering cheaper Motorola-made Android device to consumers that would run the latest Android versions ahead of the competition.
On that note, one could argue that Google managed to screw over most Android top device makers by releasing budget-friendly devices such as the Nexus 7 and the Nexus 4, but that’s a topic for another rainy day.
Getting back to Lagerling’s statements on the Motorola purchase, it appears that it’s very clear for the exec – and probably others like him that work for the company – that the move was important only for the current mobile patent wars. Or at least that’s what’s he’s being told.
And if you’d think that buying a trove of patents for a lot of money would help you in courts against Apple and Microsoft, well then guess again! Not only isn’t Google able to obtain any favorable rulings at this time, but the FTC seems more determined to investigate the way some of these patents are used against rivals in courts.
So how about designing some Motorola Nexus devices and launching them soon, you know, before Sharp or Sony will unveil their Nexuses?

Read More

Motorola Solstice XT901 is FCC certified, on its way to US Cellular with LTE and ICS

Motorola’s had a couple of pretty restless months lately, but after Razr HD and Maxx HD’s releases there hasn’t been much left to report about Google’s subsidiary. Most Jelly Bean upgrades still don’t have clear ETAs, the rumor about a Moto Nexus device was probably fabricated, while other high-end gadgets are not expected to be coming anytime soon.
That doesn’t mean we get to forget all about Motorola however, because there’s a new budget-friendly mid-ranger from the company heading to US Cellular. Codenamed “Solstice”, the handheld has just cleared the FCC with model number XT901, being most likely scheduled for a December launch (this year’s winter solstice occurs on December 21).
This is the first time we’re hearing about the phone, so, as you can imagine, the details, specs and features are a bit blurry. Still, we know that the mid-ranger will sport a qHD display with 960 x 540 pixels resolution and will pack a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Krait CPU.

There’s also Android 4.0.4 ICS on board of the device, which is another hint at an imminent release, while connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth and 4G LTE.
We have no way to know if the phone will come exclusively to American regional carrier USC or if it’ll be available on other networks too, but we’d probably put our money on the former. As for pricing, the Solstice should probably be a tad pricier than the existent ICS-running, 1.2 GHz CPU powered Electrify 2. That means you should be ready to pay around $100-$150 on contract and $350-400 with prepaid plans.
Anyone looking for a decently priced and decently (cough mediocre cough) spec’d ICS-based phone? Could the Solstice fit the bill?

Read More

Google considering mobile patent antitrust settlement

Google has been under fire from various government agencies around the world lately who are investigating antitrust and other lawsuits against the company. Now Google is said to be considering whether to settle with U.S. authorities over how it has handled its mobile patents.
Along with Google’s acquisition of Motorola in May came a truckload of lawsuits.  Some were Motorola suing companies for allegedly infringing on its patents, others were companies suing Motorola for refusing to license its patents. Ever since, authorities have been debating whether many of Motorola’s patents are essential to certain technologies, which would require these patents to be licensed, whether Motorola wants to license them or not.
These types of patents are referred to as FRAND, which stands for “free, reasonable and non-discriminatory.” These patents are generally required to be licensed to ensure interoperability between devices from different manufacturers. FTC lawyers have threatened to bring a case against Google for using Motorola’s patents as a weapon against competitors.
This is not the only instance in which Google is being accused of using its technologies against competitors. Businesses like Yelp have often opined that Google unfairly promotes its own services over those of competitors in search listings. Meanwhile, Google contends that its search results should be treated as opinion and protected by free-speech rights as such. Some have suggested that Google label its own products clearly in search results to resolve this matter.
FTC lawyers have cited certain instances where Motorola might have abused its position as a holder of FRAND patents. In response, Google has been quick to claim that competitors like Apple have acted the same way, suing competitors rather than properly licensing patents.
With the FTC continuing to pursue an antitrust lawsuit against Google, it may be better for them to settle now and pay up, rather than enter a drawn out legal battle. On the flip side of the coin, this could set precedent, causing governments worldwide to begin pursuing litigation against Google as well.
Do you think that Google has violated antitrust law? Do you think that Motorola Mobility is wrong to deny access to some of its patents? Or does the FTC just have it out for Google?

 

Read More