Nate Bird

Responding to Google’s Acquisition of Motorola

It has been fun to read some of the articles about Google’s buyout of Motorola. It is a very interesting story indeed. First thing yesterday, Dan Lyons (of Fake Steve Jobs fame) posted an articles, suck on it applesoft, which immediately prompted MG Siegler and John Gruber to respond with “Defending Android” and Balls. 

I am very much siding with Siegler and Gruber as they actually presented facts and not a hastily written piece based on seemingly nothing other than Dan’s dislike for Microsoft and Apple.

From my article yesterday you can see that I believe that Google is in trouble. This is Larry’s first big move as Google’s CEO and while I think this partially fixes Google’s patent problems they didn’t come out much better in the end. They now have an unprofitable 3rd rate Android handset maker and 20,000 more employees to manage along with a 12.5 billion dollar price tag, which as Gruber explains is over 2 years worth of profit for Google.

So now what? That is the question everyone is trying to answer. Will Google now make better hardware for their Nexus phones? Will they actually create a Google TV that someone other than a 40 year old living in their parents basement would actually use? Will they use Motorola’s patents to “defend” Android by going offensive (I know, they said they wouldn’t do this but…) after Microsoft and Apple?

I’m not sure, but from a business point of view, this deal solved one problem and creates many others for Google. They just became a much more complicated company and that in and of itself creates problems. I wish Google good luck but I won’t be surprised to see this blow up in Larry’s face.

Update: Horace Dediu agrees with me.