This has always bothered me. Google buys a huge hardware company called Motorola, and people expect new Google phones to appear within a few weeks or months. Of course, anybody with more than two brain cells to rub together realises buying and integrating such a huge company isn’t something you just do in a few weeks or months. Luckily, The Verge reports Google has just stated the obvious.
There’s several reasons why this process takes so long, and why the products we’ve seen coming from the new Google-owned Motorola are essentially the same as they’ve always been – including non-vanilla Android. First, a hardware company like Motorola has a product pipeline that you can’t just kill. Motorola’s sales may not have been doing well, but declining sales is still better than no sales at all. Especially in the mobile industry, a product has to comply with boatloads of standards, laws, and regulations – and that requires lots of testing by both the manufacturer itself, as well as agencies and institutions all over the world. And remember – every country has its own rules.
This means that even if Google started designing Motorola phones right away after acquiring Motorola, these phones would simply not be ready now. So, instead, we’re looking at the same old Motorola stuff the public had already grown tired of – including Motoblur.
However, the chances that Google started designing phones right away are slim. Motorola is a large company, and so is Google – the process of integrating the two isn’t easy. I obviously have zero experience with something like that, but common sense can go a long way here. Common sense also states that it’s probably a good idea to finish this integration process first, before starting to work on completely new products.
During the Google earnings call, CFO Patrick Pichette stated just that:
Look, we’re really pleased with Motorola’s progress in its first 150 days. As indicated in our public filings, our team has made a lot of operational changes, we harmonized and narrowed the product portfolio, [undertook] streamlining of software operations, and we scaled back the markets in which we operate. But that said, we’re just at the beginning of the Motorola-Google story, and we should expect, as I mentioned before, results from this segment to be quite variable for quite a while yet.Remember that we inherited an entire product pipeline where hardware business cycles are typically 12 to 18 months.
I’m actually incredibly curious to see where Google will take Motorola. If my Nexus 7 – built by Asus, but Google has its hand in it – is anything to go by as to what to expect from Google’s own hardware division, we’ll be in for some great stuff. I don’t want Samsung to remain as domineering as it is now, so hopefully, Google’s Motorola can do something about that.
I have had my beautiful Nokia N9 since March this year and love it. When the time comes to replace it I will buy one of the upcoming Moto-Googs with whatever Android OS is on it, assuming it will be available in “The Land Down Under” and works in my Golf. The wait, if required,will be worth it.
Anything to get those share values back to normal.
I can’t find the link right now but Asus showed off what became the nexus tablet at a few shows before it ‘disappeared’ and the nexus rumors showed up.
Maybe Google were negotiating with Asus during that time but I wouldn’t say Google had much effect on the actual hardware development.
Still love mine though. I’m not buying a non-AOSP based android preduct again.
Well, if you’re not afraid of a little tinkering, Sony’s stuff has unlockable bootloaders and their devs have fairly close ties to CM developers, so those can also be an interesting alternative to Nexus hardware.
At least that’s the best option for me currently, as I care about having a hardware keyboard and keeping the phone budget below 300€ (off-contract).
Edited 2012-10-19 08:29 UTC
I agree with your point that Google is just finding the “best” pre-production unit that OEMs are showing around and then works to rebrand it and optimize the latest OS release for it, but it’s quite humorous that you refer to non-Google Android as non-AOSP.
All non-Google Android devices are AOSP. Amazon Fire, the horrible skins, locked/unlocked, anything you can think of is still AOSP-based code. That is the point of the AOSP: it is the open source code to be used by all including mods.
And of course, you can’t refer to this class of Android devices as non-OHA devices because, even then — with Google Apps and tight oversight from Google, OEMs are still allowed tremendous leeway, carriers are still allowed to lock and add bloatware…
What you are referring to is strictly unlocked, Google Android with zero skins or bloatware, provided stock as Google wants it — i.e, the Nexus line of branded Android devices.
The chances are strong that this class will always specifically be the “Nexus” brand (and even then, sometimes the carriers will get some modifications and/or locking). I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Google/Moto continues to provide non-Nexus devices as Moto’s primary clients remain the U.S. carriers.
Edited 2012-10-19 14:58 UTC
I’ve read recently that Motorola is essentially blaming the carriers for not being able to release a phone without bloatware. That being the case, I wonder when they’ll be releasing a new tablet with stock Android. Also, I’d love it if they released a high-end Android phone without Bloatoblur on it, but I guess that’s never going to happen again.
Edited 2012-10-19 04:47 UTC
The carriers heavily subsidize the phone price which makes it hard for manufacturers to push back against bloatware.
Verizon/ATT sell phones at $200 or $250 that retail for over $500. If you play hard ball with them as a phone manufacturer they can just threaten to sell your phone at the $500 retail price.
The $650 32G Verizon Galaxy S3 Developer Edition (without the locked bootloader) is a perfect example of this. For $400 in savings I’d rather unlock the bootloader and root my standard Verizon S3.
Right, which was my whole point. If we’re supposed to blame the carriers for the bloatware on phones, then where are all those stock Android tablets, with unlocked bootloaders? For the most part, carriers don’t have anything to do with tablets, so there’s no reason for vendors to skin them, right.
This is why Google made a dumb move by not releasing a Nexus tablet sooner. Tablet sales are not controlled by carriers that much, so Google should have made a Nexus tablet from the first Honeycomb release.
Is it just me or is every other article being apologetic (when needed) for Google, while articles regarding other companies always have a certain aggressive tone against them.
Look no further than the 2 most recent articles regarding Google (this one and the earnings call).
Heck most articles on this website feel like they were written by a Google employee rather than some independent writer reporting on the news.
Same feeling here.
It Seems like it’s Google vs Apple on here. The Google fanbois hate apple but like Microsoft and Nokia. Anyone that likes Apple products do so only because their feeble minds fall prey to Apples Marketing. As if, Google and Microsoft never advertise and their superior products are only overlooked due to the power of the Apple logo. All hail the great and powerful apple logo, I looked at it..need iphone5..now..need..now
Can you explain how it is apologetic? I am biased towards Google because I really like most of their stuff so maybe I don’t see it?
Speaking of Moto, i’ve just tried the all new Razr I, the one with Intel Inside; like others, i’m impressed. Performance is good and battery life excellent (i mean better than competitors). What? Excellent battery life with an X86 Intel processor? In any case, it’s far better than my aging Nokia N8 ! And at roughly 380€ (here in France) it has a high value all things considered. If i were ARM and all minions, i should be worried, very worried.
If only they’d spent a little more [time|money] on the GPU, they’d have a killer product. The PowerVR SGX540 is ancient and slow, and really drags the entire product down. Intel has a good CPU (way better than a Cortex-A8, better than a single-core Cortex-A9, equivalent to/better than some dual-core Cortex-A9s), good memory controller, good peripherals … but it’s all dragged down by the GPU.
I thought Google had promised that Moto will be run as a seperate company?
There is a high chance Google bought Moto just a)for the patents and b) so that there is at least one major OEM making Android phones. Lest the other OEMs start embracing WP8 en masse, or be bullied into embracing WP8, aka if Microsoft jacks up the price they charge to license their patents. You know, the patents the other OEMs foolishly recognized as valid by licensing them.
And if a Google-designed Motorola phone does appear, why should it be any different from the Nexus phones you can buy today? It will probably feature the same lack of MicroSD card and unimpressive camera the Nexuses have. So, just buy a Galaxy Nexus or Optimus Nexus (in two weeks) and be done with it.
IMO the reason everyone wants to see “Motorola phones designed by Google”, is because they want to see a major OEM that offers upgrades for their entire lineup forever (forgetting how Google left the Nexus One behind). Sorry folks, that “upgrades forever” pipedream ain’t gonna happen. Just get a Nexus and enjoy the upgrades while they last.
Edited 2012-10-19 22:28 UTC