Boot up: Google buys Motorola – all the links you need, and more

Motorola has tried to build quality managemtn ever earlier into its manufacturing processes. Photograph: Mark Lennihan/AP

A quick burst of 7 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

"As opposed to being protected, for which MMI's patents appear to be too weak, those other Android device makers are going to become second-class citizens. Google has set its priority. I said before: don't overestimate the patent part of the deal. This is about Google maximizing its control over Android for the reasons and with the effects I roughly described herein, and on which I'll comment in greater detail going forward."

"That's not to say it wasn't a bold, brash move, or even to say it wasn't the right move for Google and for Android as a platform. But that's all relative to the position Google was in -- and that position was a weak one, and to pretend otherwise is to deny the obvious. And don't forget that it leaves Google in a tenuous situation with the two leading Android handset makers, Samsung and HTC. I think Apple and Microsoft probably feel pretty good, competitively, about having forced Google into spending $12.5 billion for Motorola -- a handset maker with rapidly declining sales, no recent profits, and misguided management."

"According to Infonetics, Motorola Mobility was the leader in set-top box revenues last year, and was also tops in hybrid IP/QAM set-top boxes -- that is, the boxes used by operators like Verizon that combine broadcast TV and over-the-top applications. By leveraging Motorola's position with carriers, Google can better solidify its bid to expand Google TV and Android into the living room."

"Google Inc. agreed to pay Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. $2.5 billion if it fails to close the purchase of the mobile-phone maker, said a person with knowledge of the situation, a fee more than six times the typical amount."

"Our sources say that Motorola was in acquisition talks with several parties, including Microsoft for quite some time. Microsoft was interested in acquiring Motorola's patent portfolio that would have allowed it to torpedo Android even further. The possibility of that deal brought Google to the negotiation table, resulting in the blockbuster sale."

Reading between the lines of Microsoft's redactions: Linux is no longer a desktop threat; Apple and Google are "mainly" its desktop rivals; mobile matters; online battle is now inside the browser; and security is in, innovation is out. Worth reading in full.

Microsoft is finally ready to talk about Windows 8. Here's the new official blog.

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Google's $12.5bn Motorola deal is good maths

Google co-founder Larry Page is good with figures. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Google's Larry Page will no doubt wish the mood music for his first major announcement as chief executive was more uplifting.

Instead, the conference call following Google's blockbuster acquisition of Motorola Mobility saw analysts line up to ask whether its largest takeover was also its most defensive.

But Page is a genius mathematician, and spending $12.5bn (£7.6bn) – in cash, no less – on more than 17,000 mobile patents (7,000 more than Nokia) must have been an appealing transaction.

The deal comes just 11 days after David Drummond, Google's legal supremo, complained publicly about Apple, Microsoft and other rivals waging a "hostile, organised campaign" against its Android software.

On Monday's conference call, Drummond was tentatively upbeat. "This is a transaction that will require regulatory approval, certainly in the US and in Europe and other countries, and we're quite confident that it will be approved," he said. "We believe it is a pro-competitive transaction. Android has clearly added competition, innovation and user choice, and we think protecting that ecosystem is pro-competitive, almost by definition."

As a future investment, Motorola Mobility's treasure chest of intellectual property make for better bargaining chips. But, as resident patents expert Florian Müller points out, they failed to deter the ongoing legal actions brought by Apple and Microsoft.

More cynical still is the suggestion Google will simply keep the patents and sell off its newly acquired smartphone manufacturing business. For all its talk of mobile being the future, Google (like Facebook) has shown little interest in making smartphones.

Horace Dediu, the former Nokia manager, notes that if Google really did want in on the hardware world then it would have bought Taiwanese giant HTC, a firm favourite of the Android brand.

And what of rival manufacturers? According to the press material, they welcome the move. According to Andy Rubin, Google's "Mr Android", execs at the big five phone makers showed "enthusiastic support" for the takeover when telephoned with the news on Sunday. But then again, all of them would be hard pushed to say any different.

Nokia shares were up 12% on early trading in New York; BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion jumped 4%; Microsoft rose 1.3% and Apple was up 1.8%. Google was down about 1%.

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Boot up: US antitrust probe on Google Android, Apple goes after Motorola Xoom, and more

A quick burst of 7 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Surely it's the (hardcore) few that are the influencers? Of course the group en masse doesn't agree - where would they go inbetween bouts of crippling state websites? - but that doesn't matter.

"Google's online Hotel Finder app reveals a stunning lack of vision at the search giant -- and a glaring weakness in its ideas about innovation."

"News Corp lost $254 million on MySpace, the company said as it reported revenue that beat analysts' expectations."

It goes on.

"U.S. antitrust regulators are focusing their investigation of Google Inc. on key areas of its business, including its Android mobile-phone software and Web-search related services, people familiar with the probe say."

The background. What ever happened to the careless Apple engineer?

"We are pleased that the District Attorney of San Mateo County, Steven Wagstaffe, has decided, upon review of all of the evidence, that no crime was committed by the Gizmodo team in relation to its reporting on the iPhone 4 prototype last year. While we have always believed that we were acting fully within the law, it has inevitably been stressful for the editor concerned, Jason Chen, and we are glad that we can finally put this matter behind us."

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