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posted by martyb on Friday September 22 2017, @06:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the all-the-better-to-follow-you-with dept.

Google has acquired HTC's "Pixel" division, which has made premium Android products for Google, for $1.1 billion. Google will get around 2,000 new employees (around a fifth of HTC's total workforce) and a non-exclusive license for HTC's "intellectual property":

Of the three most influential companies in smartphone design, Nokia fragmented into a million pieces after being bought out by Microsoft, Apple is still going strong, and Google just bought the third with its $1.1 billion deal with HTC. The reason why Google acquired what looks to be the majority of HTC's phone design and engineering team is simple, and it's been obvious for over a year: Google is serious about becoming a hardware company.

Early in 2016, Google created a new hardware division and re-hired Motorola chief Rick Osterloh to run that group. A brief few months after that, the company was plastering the streets of Europe and the US with billboards trumpeting the arrival of the first "Made by Google" Pixel devices. Why do we refuse to acknowledge what's right in front of our eyes? Google is going to war against the iPhone.

[...] The Motorola deal was complex, involved a vast and valuable patent portfolio, and required careful balancing to preserve at the least the appearance of Motorola operating independently. With its new staff coming in from HTC, Google is getting a big and highly experienced team — close to 2,000 people, according to HTC CFO Peter Shen — and it's putting them directly under [former Motorola chief Rick] Osterloh's command. There's no confusion about where orders are coming from, or any external interests that need to be appeased. It's just going to be Google, suddenly powered up with the years of experience that a new hardware vendor usually lacks, with the clear goal of ousting Apple's iPhone from its position as the device most identified with the word "smartphone."

Compare to the $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility in 2011.

Also at Google's Blog (written by Google Senior Vice President of Hardware, Rick Osterloh), Business Insider, Reuters, The Register, and The Street.

Previously: Google to Buy HTC Phone Business


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  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Friday September 22 2017, @06:42AM (3 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Friday September 22 2017, @06:42AM (#571584) Journal

    If corporations gonna corporate, Google is going to end up with a two tier android system, the premium one for their beloved google line and the other for the plebeian competitors.
    The plebeian competitors will split between the big players (samsung, and possible no one else) that can support their own android brand and the cheap makers which will have a strong incentive to band up on the most open android ecosystem possible. These ones might end up as the IBM PC clones that actually made the revolution happen.

    Unfortunately, the hardware maker market is quite different from the golden age, they learned a few tricks, so this might not result in any FREE ecosystem for us.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by opinionated_science on Friday September 22 2017, @10:36AM (2 children)

    by opinionated_science (4031) on Friday September 22 2017, @10:36AM (#571604)

    I have been a bit more optimistic. Perhaps the new "Treble" initiative will synch the software at certain threshold of "working".

    It does seem someone at Google has looked at Apple's tighthly integrated verticals and said "we need that".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @08:26PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 22 2017, @08:26PM (#571788)

      You mean they walk around with constant erections?

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday September 22 2017, @10:25PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Friday September 22 2017, @10:25PM (#571857)

        Wouldn't you, if people worshiped every decision you make?

        Cult Gurus clearly demonstrate it might be a real issue.