Hey guys,
This is my 3rd post. So in class, the professor asked this question "Which companies failed in smartphone war?" I answered by saying Motorola. I still believe in terms of smartphone war, Motorola failed. I remember about 5-10 years ago, Motorola used to be a huge player in cell phone industry along with Nokia and the likes. It's around the time when smartphone was developed, that Motorola began to decline. So I still stand by my argument that it was a failure by Motorola in terms of smartphone development. And ultimately, it was around that time that they began to decline.
I brought up Motorola because recently, Google sold Motorola handset division(except the patents) to Lenovo. I saw this news <http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/29/us-google-lenovo-idUSBREA0S1YN20140129> when it was first announced. I already knew Google bought Motorola and Motorola was in decline in terms of smartphone development, but I was in shock as another American company was sold to China, once again. Maybe, other notable tech firms in United States might follow...?
When Google first bought Motorola, I thought they were going to use Motorola to build smartphones(to counter Apple), despite everyone claiming they bought it for patents. All in one, Google decided to sell Motorola's mobile division and keep the patents. I remember that Google was having a hard time with investors explaining why they bought Motorola for 12 billion. In any event, Google may have acquired patents, but by selling Motorola(even the name), it really is another big story for Americans. China is becoming a new giant and is taking over the world one at a time. Clearly, this will also lure Lenovo into the smartphone market.
We will see how important patents play for Google. They still hold rights to Motorola's mobile patents. It will be interesting to see if these patents will be worth ~10 billion in the long run. They probably will be in the long run as Google is one of the key players in the patent war, but let's see how it goes.
I like your view on this acquisition. China is definitely going to step into the USA market, and I am also very excited about what the next move is from Lenovo.
ReplyDeleteI never thought Google would take part in manufacturing. It never happened, probably will not in the near future. However, Lenovo, as a computer manufacturer, not surprisingly took over Motorola from Google's hand, is finally taking action in the mobile world. Lenovo makes great durable laptop, as a consumer I am more than happy to see a new mobile device competitor entering the market. We can all see what kind of gadget they are bringing into the game.
Hi Rae,
DeleteWith all the projects going on at Google, I definately thought they were going to do some manufacturing with Motorola in the near future. China is indeed taking over many of firms in US. The future looks good for Lenovo at least because Motorola is a great brand name. It will be tough though to survive, but I am sure they will try to lower the price range to market anyway.
Thanks for the reply!
Hi Rae,
ReplyDeleteI think that your perspective on Motorola's acquisition by Google is definitely valid, but that the professor wants us to consider the overall effect of the acquisition and selloff, rather than purely the profits, hardware, patents, or production value in isolation. On balance, I feel that Motorola was in decline when it was bought by Google, who took the most valuable elements of the company, the patents, and integrated them successfully into Google's long-term patent, business, and innovation strategies. I also feel that Google's decision to sell off Motorola to Lenovo makes sense for both companies, as Motorola was operating at a loss at Google but could add much needed production capacity and technical expertise to Lenovo. Obviously only time will tell if Motorola, first as a company, then as a division within Google, and now as a division within Lenovo, will have maintained a successful business journey, but my gut tells me that all of the paths that it has taken will prove to have been the most successful.
Interesting perspective, Albert.
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