WEBVTT - Googorola 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:17.640 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello, everyone, 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.119 welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:22.520 I'm an editor at how stuff works dot Com. Sitting 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:26.280 across for me as always, although some have sued him 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.639 to stop. Senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Have you heard about 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.280 Hugo and Kim? Did they really get pinned? Did she 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:34.400 kiss him and cry? Did he pin the pin on? 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:39.000 Or was he too shy? Is she really going out? 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.960 Different songs? Yeah? I know that was one written by 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:48.120 Shulas Joe Jackson. That's a lie. It was a hit. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.920 Oh boy. All right, Let's let's move on to our topic, 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.520 shall we, before we this really falls apart. Okay, So 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.120 we wanted to talk today about Google Goal and it's 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:07.120 planned acquisition of Motorola Mobility and and what that means 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:10.280 and why Google would be considering it, and uh, kind 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:12.280 of just sort of look at the topic and talk 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.160 around it. It's kind of interesting because this this was 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.840 first announced in August of eleven August to be exact, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.959 and typically August tends to be a slow month in 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:29.080 tech news, but the August of twenty eleven was anything but. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.840 It started off like any typical August in the tech world, 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.240 but within the second week things just went out of control, 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:42.119 crazy bananas and Google Motorola was one of the big stories, 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.320 or so we thought. Other stories later eclipsed it. But 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.640 let's let's kind of talk about this and the The 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.360 details of the deal here are that Google would be 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.800 paying around forty dollars per share in Motorola stock, which 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.240 is an increase of around six of the value at 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.600 the time of the announcement. Yeah, about twelve point five 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:08.120 billion dollars billion with a B y. Yeah, that's a 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.480 that's a lot of money. And keep in mind, well, 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:16.120 why would Google want to buy Motorola Mobility? What are 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:20.040 some of the reasons? Okay, well, to start off with, 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.920 I mean, it's not like Google buying companies is unheard of. 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.959 Google's got long history of doing that, right, but typically 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.720 it's there are they are purchasing companies that the that 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.799 Google can turn into something else, like for example, when 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:40.560 they bought Rightly. Rightly was an online word processing UH 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.200 software that you used in your web browser, which became 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.679 part of Google Docs. Yeah, it's kind of more service 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:51.160 oriented than hardware oriented. That's really what Google was focusing on, 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:56.520 or advertising giants. Sure, which feeds directly into Google's line 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:02.040 of revenue, makes sense, you know, it's Google Products Services exactly. Um, 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:07.800 But with Google purchasing Motorola Mobility, motor Motorola Mobility was 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:13.480 a a fairly recent spinoff of Motorola, which has been 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.760 around for a long long time. And Motorola was the 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:21.919 company that invented the cell phone. The very first cell 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.600 phone was a huge cell phone by Motorola that wasn't 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.120 It wasn't meant for consumers, it was a prototype and 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.760 uh and famously, the the head of Motorola at the time, 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.320 made a call to uh I think it was Bell 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.280 Labs from the street out in front of Bell Labs 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.440 his office in order to kind of rub their nose 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.000 in the fact that that Motorola had built the first 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.240 cell phone. I believe the words that they used as 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:49.720 they were waving up to the person in the office 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:53.520 of Bell Labs was you who Yeah it was, which 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.680 you can also translate into nanny nanni boo boo yes. 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.160 And then the the six trucks it took to carry 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.280 the phone right drove off. It wasn't quite that big, 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.600 but it was. It was rather clunky. So anyway, Motorola 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.840 definitely has a long history, well even longer than that. 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:12.440 Remember Motorola CB radios in the nineties seventies. They predate 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:16.279 that by by quite a few years. So it's Motorole 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.159 has been around for quite some time. But they're known 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:23.920 for making things physical things, and Google is typically not. 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.800 I mean, even when it came out with the the 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.159 NEXTUS one cell phone, the hardware for that was not 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.720 made by Google, it was made by HTC. So, uh, 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.120 the question is why would they do that? And the 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.480 first reason this is this is one of the cool things, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.000 you know, a tech stuff. We don't usually cover breaking 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.960 tech news. I mean, you might mention something on the blog, 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:47.839 but when we actually get to it in a podcast, 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.120 we've had a chance for the news and commentary to 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.040 develop on it somewhat. So the initial news was Google 0:04:55.080 --> 0:05:00.279 bought Motorola Mobility because it had thousands and thousands of 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.880 patents um And this has been in the news a 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:08.640 lot lately to where Google and Microsoft and Apple and 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.200 HTC have all been going at one another on who's 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:16.120 violating whose patents and Google doesn't have a lot of patents. Yeah, 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.760 and and to be to be clear, to be clear, 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.560 Google was kind of outside of these arguments. I mean, 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:24.920 they were directly involved in the sense that the arguments 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.680 had a lot to do with the Android operating system, 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.440 but the actual lawsuits did not target Google. They targeted 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:35.840 the hardware manufacturers that we're using Android operating system. Google 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.640 is uh is not a bit player in this. They 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.200 have a big steak in the outcome of these arguments, right, 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.760 so Google definitely has a lot to lose if the 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:47.479 arguments go against the manufacturers, but they didn't have really 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.800 much recourse to act out against these lawsuits because they 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:56.440 weren't the ones named in the lawsuit. And so Google. 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.960 Google's move to purchase Motorola Mobility might have been fueled 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.200 in part with this desire to get hold of these 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:07.080 thousands of patents so that the company could protect itself 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:12.479 against UH patent lawsuits, patent infringement lawsuits. And the way 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.120 you put protect yourself against the lawsuit isn't that you 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.680 prove that your idea is original or that you have 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.559 the patent on whatever idea it is. That's that's at stake. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.480 It's to say, if you sue me for infringing on 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.200 this idea, then I can sue you for infringing on 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.360 these ideas. And it becomes this thing where it's almost 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.640 like the Cold War, right, It's where these different companies 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.800 are building up arsenals, except their arsenals aren't weapons. They 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:44.160 are patents, patent portfolios. And it protects them because they 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.240 know that if another company tries to sue them, they 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:51.680 can countersue, and it makes the whole thing counterproductive. So 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.679 you're more likely to reach an agreement with another major 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:59.440 company where perhaps you agree to license the technology across 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:04.040 both companies for multiple companies. If there's more than that 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:07.800 involved in a lawsuit. Yeah, and it it uh sometimes 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:12.400 works out where people are sort of exchanging, you know, 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.880 making exchange. So I'm licensing these patents. You know, for 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:17.720 every one of these I make, I'll give you ten 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.720 dollars for these patents, And for every one of these 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.520 I make, you give me twelve dollars for those patents, 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.440 and we'll just call it a day. Um. The thing 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.320 is a patent is basically a protection of intellectual property, 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:33.280 and it's on file with some patent office somewhere. You know, 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.800 a lot of times ideas will be patented in Europe 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.520 and in the United States and in you know, different countries. 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:42.200 So um, you know, they're these are high stakes games 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.680 that people are playing. But that's only the first I 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:47.960 would I would say that was the first obvious thing. 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.840 The other obvious thing is that Google is making the 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:56.560 Android operating system, and Motorola with the droid UM and 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:02.760 several other Zoom Zoom the tablet. Yeah, um was making devices. 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:07.440 So until this point, the Android operating system was free 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:12.720 for multiple uh uh companies to o e M companies 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.840 to license from them. So you have people like HTC, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:24.240 You've got Samsung, um LG, Motorola licensing the Android operating 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.000 system for use on their handsets, and that's helped Android 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:31.320 gain one of the biggest market shares, crazy market share, 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:35.679 like over the course of a very short time. Yeah it. 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.760 Even though the iPhone debuted before Android, Android caught up 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.400 to iPhone and got a wider distribution. And there are 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:46.160 multiple reasons for that. For one, unlike the iPhone, um 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.000 you know, iOS is only found on the iPhone. That's it. 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:53.240 Well yeah, well, for for phones, for phones. It's also 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.679 found on the tablets, the iPads. But I'm just waiting 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.240 for someone to write in, I'm glad that you said that. Okay, 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.040 so for but four phones, OS is only found on 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:03.880 the iPhone. And you might be able to find different 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.240 generations of an iPhone out on the market at any 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.200 given time, depending upon when you go to the market. 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.160 But they were all manufactured for Apple for Apple, and 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.960 it's just the iPhone line. If you wanted an Android phone, 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:20.240 you have lots of different choices across multiple carriers. And remember, 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.040 for a long time, iPhone was just stuck with not stuck. 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.680 iPhone was only available on a T and T and 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.160 then actually in the United States, and then eventually it 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.720 was also available on Verizon and there are now rumors 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.160 that it will come to other carriers as well. But 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.120 that limited the adoption rate of the iPhone as well, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.160 just because some people were locked into contracts with other 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:45.120 carriers or they had they knew that the other carriers 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.800 had better service in whatever area they lived in, and 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.600 even though they might want an iPhone, it just wasn't 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:55.000 practical based upon their particular situation. But because Android phones 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:59.200 were available across multiple carriers, across multiple handsets. It gave 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:01.800 people a lot more choice. So there's no surprise that 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.439 Android caught up in the marketplace and then started to 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.959 go beyond everyone else, at least in the smartphone market. 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.480 If you look at the cell phone market overall, then 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.360 Android is not the dominant operating system, but in the 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:19.720 smartphone the branch of the cell phone market, Android's winning right. 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:25.040 And so all of a sudden, now Google owns one 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:31.119 of the manufacturers to whom it was licensing the its software. 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.640 And now, well, of course I haven't actually heard any 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:38.720 of the other manufacturers say anything. Most of them. Most 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.959 of the comments from the other manufacturers have been we 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.280 and we trust that this is not going to in 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:48.480 any way impact our relationship with Google. So so in 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.600 other words, like HTC would say, yeah, Google's buying up 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:57.360 a company that creates competing products with our products, but 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.360 we trust that Google is not going to of them 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.960 preferential treatment and hurt us in the marketplace. And you know, 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.640 you could say, well, that's probably lip service that you know, 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:11.400 what else is HTC going to say? But I've read 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.320 some good arguments that this could very well be the case, 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.080 meaning mostly because if you look at all the different 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.840 handsets that hold or in products that have Android operating 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:30.520 system on it. Motorola Mobility consists of around roughly of 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.240 all the products that have Android on them, which means 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.160 you have eighty five of the products that have Android 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.840 on them are made by other manufacturers. So why would 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:43.280 Google endanger the relationship with eight of what of the 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.439 products out there that run Android? Why would Google put 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.480 that at risk? If they were to give preferential treatment 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.120 to one uh one company over everything else, it would 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.440 It doesn't make sense from a numbers perspective, right from 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.120 business perspective. And also we should say that Larry Page, 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.319 who is co founder and the CEO of Google said, 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.920 uh this this is an excerpt of a quote. We 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:11.400 will create amazing user experiences that supercharged the entire Android 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:15.200 ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners, and developers. I 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.560 look forward to welcoming Motorolan's to our family of Googlers. 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.120 And I guess the idea here is that you take 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:25.640 the hardware expertise from Motorola, and you take the the 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:29.520 the systems expertise from Google, and you work with those 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:34.240 to try and create new systems that would be uh 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.240 ideal for Android users, but not necessarily try and keep 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:42.600 that just to Motorola. It might be that again that 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.760 Google makes patents on these things and licenses out to 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:50.480 other manufacturers, so that you might have Google and Motorola 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.000 coming up with these new ideas, new ways to implement 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.040 the operating system in a really innovative way, but they 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:01.680 wouldn't be kept just to Motorola products. But so yeah, 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.840 that was that was what. Those were the two big 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.160 things that I that I saw in the days immediately 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.680 following than the news of this deal were oh, my gosh, 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.160 look at all the patents they've got, and we really 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.959 are talking about thousands and thousands, and there are thousands 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.800 of other patents that have been submitted but haven't been 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.439 ruled on yet, so they haven't been issued or declined. 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:26.960 So there there could be even more of the works. 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.400 And in fact, I've heard that it's possible that Google 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:33.920 doesn't even know everything that's in that portfolio, but you know, 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:35.959 they were buying it for the intellectual property, and oh 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.240 my gosh, what happens with all these other manufacturers. Some 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.640 say that they think that people like Samsung and HTC 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:51.520 might look again at Windows Phone seven. Um, yeah, I've 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.360 actually heard that Microsoft may receive a shot in the 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:59.120 arm because Windows Phone seven, despite critical acclaim, has been 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.400 flagging in the market place, and so this might give 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:08.160 them a uh, give other manufacturers and impetus to to 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.840 take a look again at the operating system and hey, 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.559 maybe we should create more Windows Phone right because because 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.480 the philosophy is, despite what Google saying, how can how 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.480 can it even be possible that the Motorola phones with 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.880 the Google operating system that we're all, you know, everything 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.600 that was developed within Google was developed with these phones 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.840 possibly in mind? How can we compete against that? I mean, 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:33.560 if I'm if I'm out in the market to buy 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.840 an Android phone, and I know that Google owns Motorola Mobility. 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:43.120 Even if Motorole Motorola Mobility remains it's as independent as 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:47.520 it possibly can be under the umbrella of Google, I'm 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.800 tempted to buy Motorola because I would logically, I would 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.760 think anything that Google does that's innovative is going to 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.760 be aimed at this particular kind of hardware over the 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.720 other kinds. Even if that's not true, that's gonna be 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:04.520 what's in my mind, Well, there are a lot of 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:09.560 people who aim for the Nexus is because they think 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.120 they're going to get the upbring system build before anyone 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.720 else does. Yeah, the Nexus, the Nexus one, the original, 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.240 and then the NEXTUS which is Samsung's and a lot 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.040 of people say, well, these these are the phones that 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:25.480 are designed to be the pure Android experience. Google has 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.000 said that they were going to give out the all 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.680 the builds that the phone can handle, so nobody's gonna 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:34.160 hold anything back. Because some of the other manufacturers have 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.760 have messed around with the operating system and they say, well, 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.560 it's not the same. Like HTC is known for its 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:45.480 HTC sense Um modifications the operating system, Motorola actually has 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:50.320 Moto blur Um and UH and both of them have 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.520 their fans and attractors. Um they say, well, you know, 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.440 HTC is not gonna give me the update from my phone, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:59.320 and I really want that, so I'm gonna make sure 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.320 I get the next or you know, the same thing 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.440 for all of them. I've I've heard complaints about all 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.040 of the different manufacturers because they say, well, they're so 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.640 intent on creating this experience on top of Android, and 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.720 I just want the pure Android garnet. It's kind of 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:14.720 funny because the day that we're recording this is the 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.240 day that I got the heat Gingerbread update to my 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:22.000 Android phone. Uh so yeah, I mean, and Gingerbread has 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.280 been out for a long long time. For you people 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:26.280 in the future who are listening to this podcast, it's 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.400 not that uh gingerbread is is fresh out of the oven. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.520 It's been available on other devices for a while. I 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:38.240 just got it as of September two. Um. Anyway, but 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:41.240 I'm sorry, go ahead, no, no no, no, go ahead. I 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.960 was going to say that that one of the arguments 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.600 I would use against the people who say this was 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:52.560 purely a patent grab is that, well, first of all, 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:54.840 it looks like a lot of those patents that Motorola 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:59.520 has wouldn't necessarily be useful in patent lawsuits. It's they 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.480 wouldn't necessarily be that valuable. Uh. In that case, some 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:05.960 of them probably are, but not all of them. And 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:07.720 it and it may very well be that most of 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:12.119 them aren't terribly useful for the whole patent lawsuit warfare strategy. 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:16.320 But another reason is because Google was part of a 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:21.280 bidding war for another group of patents from Nortel, which 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.920 ended up being a four point five billion dollar package 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:30.160 of O patents, and Google did decided not to continue 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.320 to bid on that and and pass that chance up. 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.680 But then they spend twelve point five billion on Motorola Mobility. 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:40.119 So you could either say, well, perhaps they view that 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:43.919 the patents that Motorola holds more valuable and more relevant 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.720 than the patents that Nortel held, or they could be saying, well, no, 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.920 this really is because we want to have a platform 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.359 to work with when we're developing Android, not just the 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:58.000 patents that come along with it. Well, it seems like 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:02.199 um now, I actually, uh, the best article I've found 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:06.040 on all these different pieces of fallout was from Renee A. 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.640 Riccio of inc. It was a long time tech journalist, 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:14.879 and she she was pointing out too that Nokia also, 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.000 uh might receive a shot in the arm from this, 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:22.760 because there's been a long time, Uh there's been a 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.159 rumor going on for a long time that Microsoft might 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:29.359 want to pick up Nokia. UM, and this just makes 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:33.920 it all the more possible that somebody might gobble up Nokia, 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.120 which has been around for a very very long time, 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:39.439 also has done a lot of innovation, UM not not 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.800 as visible here in the United States. UM. But you know, 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.240 they've had a lot of phones over the past using 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.119 the Symbian operating system and so there might be an 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:55.720 opportunity there. Um also Research in Motion, she suggested, as 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:59.600 a possible take over our target. Research in Motion is 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.119 hop ping this will turn things around. Research in Motion, 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:06.399 as of the recording of this podcasts, has had a 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:12.719 few rough quarters. Putting it lightly yep. Yeah, And you 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:17.080 have to remember Research Emotion was once the dominant company 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.760 in the smartphone market in the United States in particular, 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.280 like that was the one that all the executives would 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:24.920 go for. You would hear the story about the Crackberries, 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.520 where executives were addicted to using the smartphone because it 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.720 was so compelling. Well, that was before it the smartphone 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.119 had really started to creep into the consumer market. It 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.359 was definitely before Steve Jobs had introduced the iPhone, which 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.639 opened up the floodgates. Um. And of course for a 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:45.199 while it was the enterprise security level kept BlackBerry in 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.480 its position, right, Yeah, because everything is encrypted and it's 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.720 all passing through specific servers owned by RIM. Although that 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.240 did cause some problems in various industries because RIM is 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:58.720 a Canadian company and if you're talking about the United 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:03.000 States company. Uh, some executives and some I T professionals 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:06.119 a little nervous about the fact that their information was 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:11.359 passing through the servers in a different country. But rem 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:15.560 has built a reputation on being reliable and encrypted and safe, 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.600 so it was able to move beyond that. In most cases, 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:23.359 I would say, you know who else is benefiting or 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:29.840 might benefit if Google standardized more on the Motorola hardware platform. 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.120 What's developers? And I'll only say that once because I'm 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:37.199 not Steve Bomber, right, Um, because the very thing. You 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:39.760 know a lot of people who don't like Apple products 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:45.480 because they're closed off and prefer Microsoft or Linux or 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:51.400 for phones Android. Um, they like the fact that these 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:54.560 things are open, that they have multiple marketplaces, multiple options 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:56.960 to buy their software from. They say it's more open. 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:02.080 But the thing that it's two sided coin, right. Yeah. 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.160 The challenge is the fact that there are so many 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:07.520 different variations of Android out on the market that developing 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:12.200 in an appu means that you either have to make 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.920 it as general as possible to hit as many of 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:18.240 those operating systems, and to work properly on as many 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:21.400 of those operating systems as possible, or you just right 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.800 off a percentage of your of your potential audience and 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:29.520 develop for the latest operating system or the latest couple 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:34.520 of versions of that operating system, because Google does release 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:38.040 updates to Android and the you know, you want to 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:41.480 develop for the newest version of whatever the operating system is, 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:45.000 because that's probably going to give you the most advanced features. 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.000 It's going to give you access to the resources that 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.560 you want to make a truly compelling app. Well you 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:54.120 you hope for that, Yeah, that's I mean, you could 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:56.840 aim to create an app that is much more basic 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:01.439 and and really goes after very simple elements of the 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.399 operating system. Uh, and there's nothing wrong with that, But 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.080 the temptation is of course to develop something that's really 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:10.760 cutting edge that pushes the envelope. And so the problem 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:14.280 is that Google doesn't have any control over which hand 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:18.360 sets and which carriers update the operating system. Like they 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:22.400 don't have Google can't schedule that. Google can can release 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:24.760 an update to the operating system, but it's up to 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:28.480 the carriers to actually push that out to users. So 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:31.080 you could be stuck with an Android phone that could 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:34.200 be theoretically based on its hardware capable of running the 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:38.320 latest operating system, but you're stuck a version or two 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:42.800 versions or more behind the current one because the many 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:47.680 the carrier hasn't pushed that update out. So that means 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:50.440 that as a developer, you have, instead of one operating 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:54.879 system to develop for, you've got six different versions of 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:56.840 that operating system to develop for. And if you want 0:22:56.880 --> 0:23:00.119 your app to be usable across all Android devices, you 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:02.360 have to take that into account when you're building your app, 0:23:02.400 --> 0:23:06.160 So you can't build in those super cool futuristic features 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:10.120 without leaving behind a good portion of the people who 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:16.000 own Android app um Android devices. So hopefully by purchasing 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:19.560 Motorola Mobility, Google will have a little more control in 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:24.679 UH and keeping a nice standard build of the operating system, 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:30.080 and other hopefully carriers and and and handset manufacturers will 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:33.880 follow suit and incorporate that into their devices so that 0:23:35.000 --> 0:23:38.680 the experience is more level across the board. Now, if 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:41.679 you own something that cannot run the latest version of 0:23:41.680 --> 0:23:43.840 that operating system because it just does not have the 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:46.359 hardware necessary to do it, you're still going to be 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.800 out of luck. But that's just like any other computer system. 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:52.920 If I go out and buy an old old, old computer. 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:55.720 It's not going to have the resources necessary to run 0:23:55.840 --> 0:23:58.760 a modern operating system like a current version of an 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:01.320 operating system on it, because it's just it doesn't have 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:05.280 the horsepower. But that you know, that's the nature of technology. 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:09.240 You just don't want to be left behind, seemingly arbitrarily 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:14.120 knowing that your device could run this stuff but for 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:17.920 some reason doesn't. That's really irritating, both from a consumer 0:24:17.920 --> 0:24:23.360 perspective and a developer perspective. Yep UM. And then there 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:27.920