Can Google Manage Motorola Mobility

May 19, 2012

Google’s on a roll. Oracle seems to be holding a cold cup of Java. The Facebook IPO fizzled. Now China has approved Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Navigate to “China Finally Approves Google’s Motorola Mobility Acquisitions, Deal Likely to Close Next Week.” I learned from the write up:

Google may have announced its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility last August and gained approval from both EU and US authorities but it’s taken until today for the search giant to gain clearance in China…. Chinese law stipulates that any business which generates revenues in excess of $1.55 billion (10 billion yuan) per year, of which $62 million (400 million yuan) comes from China, must receive government approval before it can be acquired.

Messrs Brin and Page did not suggest China change its laws. The company waited until the Middle Kingdom did its bureaucratic boogie.

Now that the deal between a vendor with a ore competency in software and online advertising and an mobile phone outfit nearly done, the question becomes, “Can Google Manage Motorola Mobility?” My hunch is that Google will do Googley things. For example, Google will behave in an unpredictable way.

There are rumors that Google will create a preferential implementation of Android. There are rumors that Google will sell the Motorola Mobility manufacturing operation. There are rumors that Google will wheel and deal with the Motorola patents.

My view is that Google itself is not sure what it will do. Situational decisions, betas, and mixed signals are likely to be the summer picnic fare. I don’t pay too much attention to Google, but the company is a headline maker. The Motorola deal caught me by surprise. Google’s tie up with Samsung has been great for Samsung, but I think the Google management of Android has been interesting.

According to PCMag:

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt raised eyebrows when he appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and argued that Android is not fragmented but “differentiated.” Then there was the write up “The Many Faces of a Little Green Robot.” If that write up is correct, there are 681,900 Android devices running different flavors of Android.

Now that’s a form of management that is remarkable.

Stephen E Arnold, May 19, 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.