Wow. Google just announced they are buying Motorola. It looks like the main issue is patents:
Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.
They make a point of stressing that Android will remain open, they plan on running Motorola as a separate company. Seems like a good fit since Motorola was all Android already, and has a lot of patents. What do you think? Will they get rid of the locked bootloader?
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i think the locked boot loader will disappear as we start getting pure Android phones (goodbye blur!!)…
My favorite comment so far is from Mike Elgan: “Can you sue me now?”
@Bryan Thanks for the news. This one is a shocker to me…
But they aren’t buying the ENTIRE Motorola, only the Mobility division. Or did I miss something here?
Yes, just the Mobility division that was spun off. It’s the one that owns the patents.
Wasn’t expecting that! Best of luck to all the people from Motorola working for Google now, wonder really how separate the businesses will be.
Instant ON droids would be fantastic. Think of the other parts of Motorola that could be affected… youtube-enabled motorola stbs anyone?
Every major telecom and cable company is looking at IPTV in some manner, and in areas that don’t have fibre to the home, I think the CableCo’s should look at the new Google/motorola group. Youtube looks great, and that’s over a public network. Imagine that same technology without any latancy, simply on a company’s public-accessable network. This could be good…
Watch Larry Page Google Motorola Official Announcement Video (Aug 15)
http://tinyurl.com/Google-Bought-Motorola