Welcome to a New World, a New Blog

After starting the pretty successful Mobile and Cell Tips blog a while back I've learned more about phones than I ever thought I would and now, after the Google and Motorola business (in which Google, the owners of Android are preparing to buy Motorola) I've decided to start an editorial style phone blog. You won't find phone tips or even reviews of programs or apps just my views on whatever is going on, feel free to take it with a pinch of salt, though it's still a chance to see my interesting take on things.

As it was the Google and Motorola business that caused this blog in the first place it seems only fitting that we start by looking at what I think this deal means. Some people seem to think this is a deal which will see Android phones run more like the iPhones in which Google will become the only manufacturer of Android phones (like Apple is for iPhones). Motorola are, after all, a huge manufacturer of phones and making "Googarola's" will mean that Google earns 100% profit on every phone and will also be able to get rid of the fragmentation issues that dog the Android system. Personally, I don't see this happening for a number of reasons.

1. Google make their money from advertising. The search engine giants make billions from advertising, they ideally want Android phones in everyone's hand, they would be foolish to alienate manufacturers like Samsung who's Galaxy S2 alone, has sold something in the region of 6,000,000 units.
2. Google have never been a big manufacturer, in fact they've only manufactured a handful of items themselves (including a Chromebook) so why would they go the Apple route when Apple have had a history of manufacturing? It just doesn't make sense.
3. If Google attempt to "fob off" the likes of HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson the result will be that these companies will start to make rival phones, such as those running Windows. This isn't going to help Google do the #1 in this list and is going to end up making Android a minor system.
4. Continuing on from point #3 (and something I will get onto in much more detail in a minute) what we are seeing in the phone market at the moment is a war of patents with Apple attempting to sue HTC and Samsung for infringing on patents. Would Google (even with Motorola's patents) have enough to establish a phone line of there own to rival the other phones giants?

 What seems more likely than Google "going solo" so to speak is that the company will instead share the patents that Motorola own(ed). It is being reported that there is as many as 17,000 patents that will become Google's after the buy out. I'm not going to pretend to know what they are though it seems like the patents are going to be much more beneficial to Google than the manufacturing arm of Motorola.

Firstly these patents would protect Google, and the Android system directly against rivals using them (so this hits directly at Apple, who have been trying to rough house manufacturers of Android for patent infringement, RIM, the makers of Blackberry, and Microsoft) but more tellingly, it would allow Google to share them. Google could license them to all the phone manufacturers for free, who continue to produce Android phones. Now quite what the patents cover I'm not sure, like I've already said, though giving Samsung, Sony and HTC free reign of them would be a big incentive for manufacturers to stay with Android as opposed to paying a large fee for licensing them to use on devices running their own operating system.

Whilst in the past Samsung have created the "Nexus" range of Android smartphones, what I think we'll be likely to see is a "Googrola Nexus" whilst HTC, Sony Ericsson, Samsung will be able to continue on their own ranges and dip their fingers (and whole hands if necessary) into the Motorola patents.

Back in July Microsoft, RIM and Apple (as well as a handful of others) formed a consortium to buy around 6,000 patents from Nortel out bidding Google in an auction. Those 6,000 patents were expected to force up the price of Android phones (despite the fact Sony were one of the companies in the consortium), that 6,000 number is dwarfed by the number that were held by Motorola as we go into an era that may be fought more in the court rooms than the shop floor. Some are dubbing this the start of the patent war, and I think they are spot on.