Patently clear?

One of my early mobile phones was from Motorola. I was proud that I owned a phone made by one of the top phone companies in the world. (I frequently got confused at that time between Motorola and Motorol, which I think was a motor oil company). Motorola is no longer on the top and the mobility division now belongs to Google.

So, now that Google has bought Motorola Mobility, what is it going to do with its new acquisition? Is it for hardware so that it can have its own phones like Apple does? Or is it for the patents? The word patents was mentioned 24 times in a conference call on the acquisition.

Android is open source and Google's Android partners such as HTC, Samsung and LG are not going to take it quietly if Google gives preferential treatment to Motorola. So, Google making Motorola its ‘preferred' partner appears unlikely. The only thing we can hope is that Nexus phones in the future may be from Motorola, because it has proved itself in the Android arena with its Droid/Milestone.

So the other reason, which is more plausible, is the patents —17,000 in all held by Motorola. The ‘24-times mention' in the conference call now makes sense. Google may have looked around for companies with patents, as Apple and Microsoft are giving Google's Android partners a hard time by suing them for patent violations. There is this joke that Microsoft is earning more from Google's Android than from Windows phones!

Now, Nokia has partnered with Microsoft. Samsung, LG and HTC have multiple partners, and some have their own OS. That leaves two companies with proprietary software and own phones — Apple and Blackberry. Apple is sitting pretty on top. All eyes are on Blackberry that has been slipping in recent times...and possibly in line for acquisition. Ok, how many patents does it have?

COMMENT NOW