My raw thoughts on Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility

Overall, I am positive on the acquisition, with my main concern being that Google is clear and decisive about how they plan to proceed with the integration and operational side, and that they don’t unintentionally create confusion and concern in the consumer market.

ARMING UP FOR THE PATENT WAR
Obviously this acquisition is related to the ongoing patent wars between Apple and Google (with their hardware partners HTC and Samsung as the primary proxies for litigation). Motorola has a deep, broad collection of intellectual property. Not only did they invent the cellular telephone and have years of creating popular consumer mobile hardware (StarTAC!), but they also have created their own Linux+Java mobile OSes in the past, which could provide support for Google in the case vs. Oracle.

GOOD FOR DEVELOPERS FOR NOW
I don’t think this will change much for developers in the next few years, as Android has great momentum that won’t end anytime soon. It may be a boon ultimately, as Google must work harder to maintain the image of Android being open now. The more transparency and code they release, the better for all.  I would also hope Google uses this to support and/or indemnify its app developers from worrying about being sued by patent trolls like LodSys.

PUTTING THE NAIL IN THE RIM COFFIN
Motorola has a “Pro” category of devices, with enhanced security in the OS to meet enterprise and gov requirements, as well as Blackberry style keyboards. This device could be a “Nexus Pro” sold bundled with Google Enterprise services to take on RIM directly as complete business tack. Google is having a lot more success in this space than people realize, taking on IBM, Microsoft and RIM all in one swoop. This is an area that Apple cannot compete in.

COMPETING WITH YOUR PARTNERS
It will be a tricky task to manage Android and Motorola business units of Google. While not entirely comparable, there are some good lessons to learn from Palm and Apple’s own failed attempts at licensing an OS while producing their own competitive hardware. I was at Palm when we had the PalmOne (Hardware) and PalmSource (OS) divisions, when there were still Palm licensees such as Handspring and Sony, and it was a really difficult mess. PalmSource had to treat us like a separate company, in order to appease partners, but at the same time, we didn’t have the freedom those partners would have to implement their solutions because we had to maintain unity with the Palm vision. Eventually, all the licensing ended, Palm bought Handspring, and the whole company unified again, and then ultimately failed, and was acquired by HP.