Palm's dead baby, Palm's dead ... or not?
We live in an interesting time. The time when the telecommunications market is completely rebuilt. Old-timers are crowding and leaving, new heroes and leaders are emerging.
Almost simultaneously, the market was blown up by two high-profile news, the consequences of which we will observe, in my opinion, is still very, very long. News that in the future will have a significant impact on the alignment of forces in the market - the acquisition by Google of Motorola and the news from HP about the minimization of work on WebOS. It seems to be events and not related, but, in my opinion, there is something in common between them.
To begin with, I’ll share some thoughts about the Googorola deal. In recent days, I have repeatedly heard the opinion that such decisions do not arise spontaneously, but are being prepared for many months. But it seems to me that in this case, this is not entirely true, and I will try to explain why.
The acquisition of Motorola - a step in principle logical. Yes, patent wars are becoming more intense, Google, through the attack of competitors on its loyal manufacturers, is under very strong pressure. Moreover, after the failure to acquire the intellectual property of Nortel Networks (6 thousand patents), the problems of the giant may increase, so companies needed powerful trumps. And the Motorola patent portfolio (24.5 thousand patents) is a weapon that will help protect the company in the future. It is clear that this is the main motive of the transaction.
But at the same time there are very important slippery moments, which cause the main question - why was it necessary to acquire a manufacturer, instead of acquiring exclusively intellectual property from him? Motorola has long been a leader neither in the industry nor in the North American market. Yes, the merit of the company in popularizing Android is priceless, but the company’s dividends are only enough to stay afloat and no more. Motorola - is a strong middling, not enough stars from the sky with their technological or software development. Moreover, the company is currently represented in fact in just two markets - America and China. The acquisition of such a manufacturer for the purpose of future implementations of reference devices is a controversial step.
In this case, you need to understand the following - Google itself becomes a device manufacturer. And the words that this fact will not affect the policy of relations with other manufacturers are just words. The company will now have to provide certain preferences for its production in order to make a profit from its division, to increase its market share. This is a business. And this can not but irritate other partners of the company. For them, it becomes necessary to compete not with Motorola, but with Google.
')
For a counter-example, recall the deal between Microsoft and Nokia. According to official statements, this transaction is a kind of equal partnership. At the same time, on the one hand, Nokia does not receive any exceptional preferences, but on the other hand, Nokia itself said that the software developments that it will accomplish as part of the development of WP7 will be available to other manufacturers. The situation for manufacturers using the WP7 platform is theoretically becoming more advantageous compared to using Android.
It is believed that Google will curtail production, concentrate on R & D, reduce the staff of Motorola. There is another slippery moment - Google has acquired 19 thousand mouths, which are registered with Motorola. Google itself has 29 thousand employees for comparison. An increase in staff by 60%, and at the expense of personnel working on a different ideology, is not a particularly pleasant step for the giant. At the same time, I am sure that no one will allow Google to carry out mass layoffs during the period of the American crisis, and even from a profitable company, whose name is largely associated with America. If there are any insignificant thoughts of this kind, the transaction will simply not be approved, and the company will pay $ 2.5 billion in compensation .
So why did Google acquire Motorola instead of acquiring a patent portfolio? In my opinion - this is an absolute victory for the leadership of Motorola. Yes, the negotiations may have been going on for more than one month, and that is why, being confident in their abilities, Google allowed herself to clown in the bid for Nortel Networks . But Google was interested in acquiring Motorola's intellectual property, negotiations were underway on this topic, and Moto’s leadership insisted on acquiring the entire company. And as an important signal, they hinted that they were theoretically ready to cooperate with Microsoft in creating special conditions, which served as the final chord - the announcement of the acquisition. It was then, in my opinion, that a rather hasty decision about the deal matured.
In principle, all this is quite obvious things, clearly reflected in financial indicators. The announcement brought a substantial increase in Motorola shares and a fall in Google shares.
But what is the connection between this event and the announcement of the cessation of development related to webOS? The most immediate:
HP CEO Leo Apotheker has confirmed that he was in fact, has been confirmed.
What used to be called Palm now is a very tasty morsel. On the one hand, it is a ready-made WebOS platform, which, if desired, can be bought by any manufacturer. And in conditions when the market has to compete with Google itself - having your own platform becomes the most important advantage needed by the bay of salvation, in which you can hide when the hard times come on the Android market. Samsung has Bada, HTC has a number of acquisitions that hint at possible developments in this area.
ExPalm, on the other hand, is intellectual property. From 1.6 thousand to 4 thousand patents, according to various estimates. And in the conditions of inflaming patent wars - this is a very strong trump card.
Therefore, HP’s management’s decision to minimize WebOS-direction appeared at an exceptionally good time - it is possible that HP can not only return what was spent, but also come out with a profit, despite bad experience.
How many times have Palm been buried, but somehow it continues to exist. And I suspect that it’s too early to put an end to the history of this name. In the near future, we should expect no less interesting news about the future of WebOS, and we can only guess about the future of the market. But, in my opinion, Android has a hard time ahead.
Almost simultaneously, the market was blown up by two high-profile news, the consequences of which we will observe, in my opinion, is still very, very long. News that in the future will have a significant impact on the alignment of forces in the market - the acquisition by Google of Motorola and the news from HP about the minimization of work on WebOS. It seems to be events and not related, but, in my opinion, there is something in common between them.
To begin with, I’ll share some thoughts about the Googorola deal. In recent days, I have repeatedly heard the opinion that such decisions do not arise spontaneously, but are being prepared for many months. But it seems to me that in this case, this is not entirely true, and I will try to explain why.
The acquisition of Motorola - a step in principle logical. Yes, patent wars are becoming more intense, Google, through the attack of competitors on its loyal manufacturers, is under very strong pressure. Moreover, after the failure to acquire the intellectual property of Nortel Networks (6 thousand patents), the problems of the giant may increase, so companies needed powerful trumps. And the Motorola patent portfolio (24.5 thousand patents) is a weapon that will help protect the company in the future. It is clear that this is the main motive of the transaction.
But at the same time there are very important slippery moments, which cause the main question - why was it necessary to acquire a manufacturer, instead of acquiring exclusively intellectual property from him? Motorola has long been a leader neither in the industry nor in the North American market. Yes, the merit of the company in popularizing Android is priceless, but the company’s dividends are only enough to stay afloat and no more. Motorola - is a strong middling, not enough stars from the sky with their technological or software development. Moreover, the company is currently represented in fact in just two markets - America and China. The acquisition of such a manufacturer for the purpose of future implementations of reference devices is a controversial step.
In this case, you need to understand the following - Google itself becomes a device manufacturer. And the words that this fact will not affect the policy of relations with other manufacturers are just words. The company will now have to provide certain preferences for its production in order to make a profit from its division, to increase its market share. This is a business. And this can not but irritate other partners of the company. For them, it becomes necessary to compete not with Motorola, but with Google.
')
For a counter-example, recall the deal between Microsoft and Nokia. According to official statements, this transaction is a kind of equal partnership. At the same time, on the one hand, Nokia does not receive any exceptional preferences, but on the other hand, Nokia itself said that the software developments that it will accomplish as part of the development of WP7 will be available to other manufacturers. The situation for manufacturers using the WP7 platform is theoretically becoming more advantageous compared to using Android.
It is believed that Google will curtail production, concentrate on R & D, reduce the staff of Motorola. There is another slippery moment - Google has acquired 19 thousand mouths, which are registered with Motorola. Google itself has 29 thousand employees for comparison. An increase in staff by 60%, and at the expense of personnel working on a different ideology, is not a particularly pleasant step for the giant. At the same time, I am sure that no one will allow Google to carry out mass layoffs during the period of the American crisis, and even from a profitable company, whose name is largely associated with America. If there are any insignificant thoughts of this kind, the transaction will simply not be approved, and the company will pay $ 2.5 billion in compensation .
So why did Google acquire Motorola instead of acquiring a patent portfolio? In my opinion - this is an absolute victory for the leadership of Motorola. Yes, the negotiations may have been going on for more than one month, and that is why, being confident in their abilities, Google allowed herself to clown in the bid for Nortel Networks . But Google was interested in acquiring Motorola's intellectual property, negotiations were underway on this topic, and Moto’s leadership insisted on acquiring the entire company. And as an important signal, they hinted that they were theoretically ready to cooperate with Microsoft in creating special conditions, which served as the final chord - the announcement of the acquisition. It was then, in my opinion, that a rather hasty decision about the deal matured.
In principle, all this is quite obvious things, clearly reflected in financial indicators. The announcement brought a substantial increase in Motorola shares and a fall in Google shares.
But what is the connection between this event and the announcement of the cessation of development related to webOS? The most immediate:
HP CEO Leo Apotheker has confirmed that he was in fact, has been confirmed.
What used to be called Palm now is a very tasty morsel. On the one hand, it is a ready-made WebOS platform, which, if desired, can be bought by any manufacturer. And in conditions when the market has to compete with Google itself - having your own platform becomes the most important advantage needed by the bay of salvation, in which you can hide when the hard times come on the Android market. Samsung has Bada, HTC has a number of acquisitions that hint at possible developments in this area.
ExPalm, on the other hand, is intellectual property. From 1.6 thousand to 4 thousand patents, according to various estimates. And in the conditions of inflaming patent wars - this is a very strong trump card.
Therefore, HP’s management’s decision to minimize WebOS-direction appeared at an exceptionally good time - it is possible that HP can not only return what was spent, but also come out with a profit, despite bad experience.
How many times have Palm been buried, but somehow it continues to exist. And I suspect that it’s too early to put an end to the history of this name. In the near future, we should expect no less interesting news about the future of WebOS, and we can only guess about the future of the market. But, in my opinion, Android has a hard time ahead.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/126681/
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