The next set of questions that arise from this purchase can lead one to wonder what is next. Even though they have stated that business as usual will be continuing on both side of the spectrum, will Motorola be the sole manufacture of all up coming Nexus devices? Andy Rubin put a statement out shortly after the announcement to put a quick stop on that potential rumor mill, here is what he had to say –
We have this strategy where we have this Nexus program, and we have this lead device strategy. That strategy has worked quite well to help focus the team.
What we do is that we select each — around Christmastime of each year — we select a manufacturer that we work very closely with to release a device in that time frame. That includes, also, semiconductor companies and all of the components that go in the device.
Essentially the teams huddle together in one building. They jointly work in these development efforts — they go on for nine to 12 months. And ultimately at the holiday season, or right before it, devices pop out that are based on this effort.
We don’t expect that to change at all. The acquisition is going to be run as a separate business. They will be part of that bidding process, and part of that lead development process. And obviously Android remains open to other partners to use as they are today.
The other conflict that arises from this is the current suit that was filed by Microsoft against Motorola for infringements on Android. Essentially, Google just bought their way into a current law suit. Nothing new for them at this time in the Android climb to the top. At least they now have a greater patent portfolio available for their lawyers to review.
At the very least, Motorola now has the complete backing of Google and Google has their own handset manufacture at their disposal. It should be a very interesting ride over the next couple of years. I look forward to seeing how all these suits and this purchase pan out.
Source: ZDNet
