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Eric Schmidt Vows Motorola Deal Won’t “Screw Up” Android

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In an interview with Bloomberg, Eric Schmidt did his best to lay to rest concerns that the purchase of Motorola by Google may result in more harm than good when it comes to Android. Long known for their reluctancy to directly enter into the hardware business, many saw the purchase of Motorola in sharp contrast to the central ideals of Android. Google, after all, now has the opportunity to have greater control over the hardware Motorola produces, a benefit some have speculated could lead to favoritism and direct competition with other Android manufacturers. Schmidt said, however,

“The Android ecosystem is the No. 1 priority, and that we won’t do anything with Motorola, or anybody else by the way, that would screw up the dynamics of that industry. We need strong, hard competition among all the Android players. We won’t play favorites in the way people are concerned about.”

As has been known from the beginning, the Motorola deal was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to ongoing patent lawsuits assaulting Android from all angles. The buyout of Motorola transferred ownership of tens of thousands of patents to Google, positioning them to better defend the Android ecosystem. While Google may have overpaid, they still possess a unique advantage with Motorola to help Android grow over the coming years (or so Eric Schmidt hopes).

[via Gizmodo]

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30 Comments

  1. “won’t play favorites in the way people are concerned about”
    In what way will they be playing favorites then?

    1. By taking motoblur behind the shed with a shotgun in hand

    2. That was my thoughts when I read that statement too

    3. Not sure, but I’m not concerned about it

      ;)

      1. normally I’m not concerned about it too when someone at Google says it, but for some reason it doesn’t go when Eric Schmidt says it.

        I think he is saying: “We will NOT be giving Motorola all the Nexus devices as many have been suggesting, BUT we will give moto early access to the builds and use it to direct Android in the way Google wants it to go”

        Then again, it might just be, that he is referring to Google tv on set-top boxes and that in that sense moto might receive favoritism.
        Either way, I’m not that concerned about Android, Google knows what they are doing and so far I am only liking it.

        1. All the major players already get early access.

          1. I meant even earlier access, as in, moto will provide the developers with test phones before there is even a stable build. But I guess it doesn’t matter that much….or it might…hmmmm it seems I actually don;t know if it matters or not :P

    4. When they work closely with Google with stuff like the Nexus Phones then they get to have early access to the next version of Android.

      Examples:
      1. Nexus One = HTC
      2. Nexus S = Samsung
      3. Xoom = Motorola

  2. The most important part of his statement is ”We won’t play favorites in the way people are concerned about.” I think google will use motorola to push the bar for android and hope the other companies keep up…like what they did with the nexus 1. I have no problem with google using motorola for the nexus just as long as google releases the current version of android to other OEMs in a timely fashion.

    1. It’s not so much of Google releasing it to them, it’s more of them customizing it to their own needs. For example, Blur. They have to first update the O/S with that skin and then release it, which is why they take so long in the updating process.

      1. Several Motorola phones with Blur got updated to 2.3 before at least 1 stock Android phone last year, probably more….

        Custom UI’s dont necessarily cause delays.

  3. As long as the whole “Blur” thing is being phased out…

    1. Right when its finally worth using? That would be a waste..

      Some of us need to recognize how far its come.

  4. as long as they back to stock android for ALL moto smartphones

  5. Unlock the bootloaders.

  6. i demand you to release the prime Mr. Schmidt ( AKA MEGATRON )

    1. is it me or does his name sound like he should of been in the matrix lol

      1. Agent Schmidt: You hear that Mr.Ellison?… That is the sound of inevitability… It is the sound of your death… Goodbye, Mr. Ellison…

        Larry: My name… is Larry.

  7. They don’t have to play favorites. If they trash motoblur and unlock bootloaders they will make a killing.

  8. I busted out laughing when I looked at his serious face in the picture.

  9. Given that Motorola has an unhappy habit of releasing phones before they’re capable of handling the current version of Android, and the updates usually result in some sort of “bug infestation,” I can’t see how the merger will do anything else but cause problems. The question for anyone who owns an Android phone from another manufacturer, will you still get the latest, greatest features and adequate support? This is a very bad idea.

  10. My next Android will be a Motorola! Screw the other OEM’s, They are traders. Motorola builds great hardware and with a stock build of Android to control it and an unlocked bootloader they will be unstoppable!!

  11. My next Android will be a Motorola! Screw the other OEM’s, They are traders. Motorola builds great hardware and with a stock build of Android to control it and an unlocked bootloader, Moogle will be unstoppable!!

  12. Google MUST kill Blur in order to fulfill its promise. I don’t see another way to secure a balance within OEMs if Google keeps Blur. Beside, Blur is a new redundancy to Google. Why make TWO android skins under one brand?

    Blur MUST and WILL die.

  13. Eric Schmidt and Sebasitan Thrun already got Google’s name into these criminal cases which had endangered human lives; and such anti-humanity crimes Eric Schmidt and Sebastian Thrun involved in would not be tolereated anywhere in this world. My accusations are real and undeniable. I bet Google could not deny those serious accusations against Eric Schmidt which I have displayed on the web, and I bet Google would not tolerate their crimes either.

    more details Look-inside-dumbfounded [ http://tysurl.com/BsEnQ4 ] …and it did happen as Eric Schmidt predicted so far, that police did not find out who murdered Stanford student May Zhou [ http://www.mayzhou.com ], which is very scary … Schmidt side told me: if they can’t win the case at judicial authorities, they could take my life as easy as getting rid of a bug … it is problems in Stanford Computer Science Department with their Professor Sebastian Thrun’s case that led to May Zhou’s death … who actually setup order in Stanford Computer Science Department? … Thrun, Schmidt, Scheler, and Thrun’s bosses in Stanford Computer Science departmet are all in debt to Stanford student May Zhou’s death.
    — An unheard of sandal in history of college education.
    When I disclosed his crimes, Eric Schmidt ran out of grounds and publicly sent me life threatening message [ http://tysurl.com/dsyyGp ]

    1. Eric Schmidt in Debt

      The crimes Eric Schmidt involved into, including killing the innocent and threatening the victim, is fascism by nature; and such crimes would not be excused by any other reasons (e.g. for business reasons); and such crimes would not be tolerated anywhere, let alone in a civilized country as U.S. Their crimes had extended to U.S. citizen (e.g. May Zhou) and against U.S. authorities, and their crimes are surely far more than what I have described on the web, which I believe had already been well documented at judicial authorities. If their crimes could not be clarified to the public and concurred at authorities, it would be a serious offending to the dignity of the nation of the United States.

      These unbelievable happenings are real and I am waiting to see if anyone could show any facts that could contradict validity of these happenings.

  14. Did they really over pay? I could have sworn it was here but somebody broke down the price per patent vs what was paid for the Nortel patents and the Moto patents were cheaper.

    Also I still think people keep looking completely over the fact that Moto has already sued Apple and the chances of that being settled now without Apple backing off of Android are just about zero. And if those patents hold they’ll have to settle because they reach into just about every product Apple makes.

  15. I only had razr from motorola in the past, i think hes back on my priority list ahihihi

  16. Google understands what an amazing shift in culture Android represents. Android is no less (and I would argue MORE) than the current day adaptation of the Microsoft MS-DOS/Windows domination of the PC market. But, at the time of that cultural shift, not even 1/2 of the US households owned a computer. Today, the vast majority of households have MULTIPLE smartphones. Apple can boost their numbers with iPad sales, but, the revolution is on the phone. And Google is astute enough to not screw that up just because they can now produce some shiny hardware.

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