Google Buys Motorola Mobility – Armed and Ready to move forward in mobile communications in a big way.

Google Buys Motorola Mobility – Armed and Ready to move forward in mobile communications in a big way.

I have ten thoughts on the strategic importance of this very key acquisition and the brilliance of Larry Page taking an aggressive position forward.

1. Google missed out on the 6000 strong Nortel patents and acquires over 17000 Motorola patents. They actually bid “pi” or $3.14159 Billion. The so-called “Rockstar Bidco group” of Apple, Microsoft, Research In Motion, Sony, Ericsson AB and EMC. Google is finding itself having to protect the company with all these patent infringements.
2. Google wants to be in the game and as access to the internet has expanded to mobile devices the past decade, so too has the demand for even faster wireless data connections. The future is LTE and 4G. Mobile search and mobile payment tools are the fastest growing market segments. Remember when Steve Jobs went ballistic when he saw the first Google android prototype?
3. The “Google Phone” will become a reality and with their clever Android software platform the missing link was control of the hardware platform. The Motorola acquisition makes this happen.
4. The Android cool factor disappears as it becomes mainstream. Now that Google is a legitimate manufacturer the software developers may not have that open source playground anymore. Android will become proprietary.
5. Google now has a set top platform to expand its Google TV or even Googleflix offering. Search now embeds itself even further into the consumer’s home. Remember Motorola was a leader in wireless Ethernet routers and adsl modems back in the day.
6. Samsung and HTC are going to be worried as Google moves from partner to competitor status.
7. I think Nokia will get purchased by Microsoft and I think Microsoft may buy RIM. Rim patents are worth at least $10 Billion based on the recent Nortel and Motorola patent evaluations.
8. Google is taking a long term view to having the resources and platforms to protect itself from Microsoft and Apple.
9. Google is investing into hottest technologies are Cellphone payments, location technology, automobile-Internet, QR codes and 4G/LTE.
10. Patents, patents and more patents but in the end the hardware is key, if not Google could have bought InterDigital that has over 8000 patents for a lot less.

Motorola: The Leader in Innovation and a Mobile Pioneer

Motorola has a long history in being on the leading edge of communications technology. Its brand is well known in the 2 way radio and cellular handset business.
Motorola is solely focused focusing on mobile technologies and has authored volumes of books and holds many patents.

Read through the timeline and through the static and noise in the wireless spectrum it will become very clear on how strong a signal Motorola really is.

1928 - Motorola is founded in Chicago, Illinois by Joseph and Paul Galvin in September of that year as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. Its first product was a battery eliminator that allowed battery operated radios to run on household electricity.

1930 - The name "Motorola" is created as the brand for the first commercially successful car radio. It is the combination of the word "motor" for car, and "ola," which the Galvin’s believed on the idea of mobile sound. The brand essentially means "sound in motion." Motorola releases a car radio.

1936 – The Motorola Police Cruiser radio receiver is launched.

1943 -1946 Motorola becomes the defacto messaging platform for the allies in World War II with the Handie-Talkie SCR536 Radio.

1946 - The beginnings of the cell phone. Motorola's equipment is used to make the first in-car telephone calls over Illinois Bell's radiotelephone service in Chicago in January.

1955 - Motorola's stylized "M" makes its first appearance.
1956 - The company debuts its first “Handie-Talkie Radio Pager”, calling it a "new standard in personal communication.” It immediately becomes a popular replacement for overhead paging in hospitals and factories.

1969 - A Motorola radio transponder relayed the first words from the moon to Earth in July 1969. The transponder aboard the Apollo 11 lunar module transmitted telemetry, tracking, voice communications and television signals between Earth and the moon.

1973 - The modern cell phone starts development with the debut of the DynaTAC. The famous brick cellular telephone.

Motorola DynaTAC1983 - Ten years after the company shows its first prototype cellular phone system, the FCC approves a commercial version of DynaTAC in September. The phone would not be available at retail until the following year. Arguably the first cell phone accessory also makes its debut: the "VSP" (Vehicular Speaker Phone) allows for hands free operation.

1986 - Motorola’s Bravo pager is released, which would go on to become the world's best selling pager. The Six Sigma standard for measuring quality improvement processes, was invented by Motorola researchers.

1989 - The MicroTAC makes its debut.

1991 - The company plays a crucial role in the development of GSM, introducing a system and phones in Germany. The technology now is a global standard used in nine out of 10 phones in operation worldwide today.

1994 - iDEN technology debuts, combining the aspects of paging, two-way communication, and phone calls into a single mobile device.

Motorola StarTAC 200px1996 - The StarTAC is released. Arguably no other phone gains the cult following this device does: it is used by a hardcore group of aficionados for more than a decade. Over 60 million were sold, making it one of the earliest blockbuster devices.

1999 - Motorola debuts its first tri-band GSM phone -- the Timeport -- allowing users for the first time to use the same phone when traveling worldwide.

2000 - The company teams up with Cisco to deliver the first GPRS network to BT in the United Kingdom. The first GPRS phone is released, the Timeport P7389i.

2002 - Motorola introduced the world's first wireless cable modem gateway which combined a high-speed cable modem router with an Ethernet switch and wireless home gateway.

2003 - The company makes its first foray into the smartphone market with the A760, which used the Linux operating system with Java technology.

Motorola RAZR2004 - The RAZR debuts, arguably setting off a trend to go thinner and smaller -- and like the StarTAC, gains a cult following that uses the phones long after the company stops selling them. It held the honor of the bestselling cellular phone in history until it is eclipsed by the iPhone in 2008.

2009 - Motorola takes a chance on Google's new Android smartphone operating system and several of its devices become some of the bestselling models on the platform.
Motorola Mobility

2011 - On January 4, the company announces it will spin off its Mobile Devices division into a separate company called Motorola Mobility. Motorola Solutions would handle all of the company's non-cellular related activities.

August 15, 2011 - Motorola Mobility is acquired by Google in a $12.5 billion transaction. Google calls the move "defensive," aimed at staving off an increasing tide of lawsuits aimed at the Android operating system.