Recently, Google seemed to have made a huge mistake; they sold Motorola, which they bought for $12.5 billion, to Lenovo for $2.91 billion. What looks like a $9.5 billion negative, however, is a brilliant move by Google. Google sold Motorola without its patents, so they still own the IP value within Motorola. In essence, Google owns the brains while Lenovo controls production.
The implications for the smartphone industry are enormous. In an age when IP is worth billions of dollars, Google retains a large body of patents with which to promote the Android system. For a competitor like Apple, Google's deal with Lenovo is an inconvenience; it's negligible that Motorola was sold, as long as Google maintains control of legislative ammunition in the form of patents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7iLKXnXb60
I think Google's sale of Motorola was brilliant also because they were able to further strengthen Android's user base. One of the primary reasons Motorola lost so much money was because Google intentionally prevented them from making a profit; the Motorola X and the Motorola G were priced well below the expected price point? Why? By having a very very cheap but good smartphone, first-time users would be more likely to purchase the Motorola phone and consequently attach themselves to the Android ecosystem.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point. I think selling good Android phones at low prices is a great strategy to secure new smartphone users who may not want to spend money on an iPhone.
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