GOOGLE-MOTOROLA MERGER: Here's What Mobile Execs REALLY Think (GOOG, MMI)

As Google continues the arms race for mobile patents (it just picked up another 1,200 from IBM), the dust has yet to settle following Google's proposed $12 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

Business Insider Research talked to Mobile industry veterans to get unvarnished insights into to the deal with the hope of making sense of an acquisition that has left many--both in the industry and in the investment community--scratching their heads.

Some common threads:

Gaining control of Motorola's 17,500 patents and 7,500 applications was the main (most said sole) driver for doing the deal.While there were a few contrarians, the consensus of those we spoke to was that Google has no business being in the handset business and will spin off the Motorola hardware business sooner rather than later.If Google does decide to keep the hardware manufacturing business, running the combined company will be extraordinarily challenging.Google will share the patents with their OEMs (Samsung, HTC, etc.) so that THEY can battle Apple instead of Google having to take them on directly.

Here are a series of quotes from some of those we spoke to that hopefully shed some light on what those in the industry really think of the deal. The interviews included a senior level executive at a Google OEM, the founder and head of a mobile ad network, a veteran Silicon Valley investment banker, and a division head at a consumer electronics company.

MOST STILL THINK THE SOLE REASON GOOGLE BOUGHT MOTOROLA WAS TO GET THE PATENTS:

"As the handset moves from a utilitarian device to call people to an extension of their personality, Motorola certainly has not kept up with others in the space, so it must be about something other than the handset," observed a founder and CEO of a mobile ad network. "Do these patents allow them to do something in mobile search, display or social graph that they simply can't do without them. It has to be a means to an ends; Maybe they allow Google to give away free phones on a scale unimaginable before and make it up through huge premiums charged to advertisers."

"The quantity (17,500 patents and another 7,500 applications) and quality of the Motorola patents are very good and we heard they were worth over $5 billion in their own right," said a Silicon Valley investment banker who has done work in the space. "We also heard that they are of a better quality than Nortel."

MOST AGREE GOOGLE WILL ULTIMATELY SPIN OFF THE HARDWARE BUSINESS (LIKELY SOONER RATHER THAN LATER)...

"I don't think anyone at Google or in the industry really thinks that acquiring the Motorola hardware business was the purpose or goal of this transaction," said a senior executive at a Google OEM. "The hardware business is not easy and they have not been in it and do not have the skills and experience needed to succeed. Motorola is a much smaller player in the hardware business when compared to HTC and Samsung."

"I have dealt with this Motorola group and culturally they are very different from Google so integration may well be harder than they imagine," said a division head at a consumer electronics manufacturer. "There is a lot of rigor needed in the high volume low margin smart phone hardware business which may not sit well with Google's approach to date."

BUT SOME THINK LARRY PAGE WON'T BE ABLE TO RESIST KEEPING THE HARDWARE BUSINESS TAKING TAKE ON APPLE HEAD ON IN INTEGRATED GADGETS...

"Google did this deal to compete with Apple," said the consumer electronics division head. "Apple makes the best smart phones and they do this by having complete control over the product, hardware, software and apps. The Motorola group gives Google the missing hardware capability." He went on to say: "Contrary to popular opinion, Google can be competitive in the highly competitive consumer electronics business because they already control and own the hard bits, [software platform, app store, brand] so  adding the hardware should be a smaller step." 

THERE IS A RISK THAT GOOGLE WILL ALIENATE THEIR EXISTING (MOSTLY ASIAN) HARDWARE LICENSEES, BUT MOST THINK THE DEAL WAS DONE TO HELP, NOT HURT GOOGLE OEM's.......

"Google believes that all the patent suits are damaging the ecosystem and they viewed this as a way to help their partners and the mobile ecosystem," said the Google OEM senior executive. "While the deal came about very quickly in the weeks following the Nortel deal, Google communicated their intentions to their partners in advance and we're not angry about it--it is actually a good thing."

HOW IT WILL HELP GOOGLE OEM'S.....

"All these patent suits are a huge distraction and the goal with acquiring these patents is to put the litigation to rest," the google OEM partner said: "Google will not take on Apple directly, but rather arm their OEM's with patents so they can better do so themselves."

Google appears to be already being doing just this. In the last month, Google transferred to HTC nine patents it bought in the past year from companies including the former Motorola Inc. and Openwave Systems Inc. Taiwan-based Google OEM HTC used those patents last week in a new lawsuit that escalates its patent battle with Apple.

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Five Reasons Why The War for Social Network Supremacy Will Be Decided On Mobile

iPhone vs. Newspaper" />In the past few years, social networks have proliferated at an astounding rate. Facebook recently eclipsed 750 million users, Twitter has more than 100 million (an 82% growth from the beginning of the year) and LinkedIn, in the wake of its May IPO, just surpassed the 120 million-user mark.

Add to this the traction achieved by the newest kid on the block, Google+, which racked up more than 20 million users in the first few weeks since launch, and one doesn’t need a fortuneteller to figure out that there is a full-fledged war underway for social network supremacy.

As the battle heats up and pundits argue over who has the upper hand and best pre-requisites to succeed, one of the deciding factors that will dictate who comes out on top will arguably be each network’s mobile prowess. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. The most ubiquitous platform by far is mobile

At the beginning of the year, there were over five billion mobile users and approximately two billion Internet subscribers. Looking at Nielsen’s estimates, which state that about two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking sites, some quick math will lead you to the conclusion that there are about 3.5 times the number of mobile subscribers as there are users on social networks. The biggest opportunity for growth most definitely lies in the mobile space. 

A huge market like China, which Wireless Intelligence says will eclipse 1 billion mobile customers later this year, only has 74% mobile penetration. If this sounds high compare that to the USA, where the mobile phone penetration rate should pass the 100% rate per capita this year, while Europe and Africa are at a 130% and 50% respectively. This is a clear sign that even robust markets still have room to grow before hitting their peak.

2. Rise of the smartphone generation

While there is little question that mobile phones are the most ubiquitous platform, it is only recently that smartphones reached a critical mass of users. This is a development heralded by Apple and the launch of the iPhone and later perpetuated by Google’s Android and HTC, which effectively democratized the smartphone as a device by offering a wide variety of models at a low price point. It is the same strategy that helped Microsoft make Windows the most ubiquitous desktop operating system.

Nielsen predicts that smartphones will surpass feature phones in the U.S by 2011; just in the last three months, 55% of mobile phone purchases were smartphones. On a global level, 77% of all phones sold come equipped with cameras, which addresses the ever-growing consumer demand for in-direct social features, such as the ability to take pictures and video to share with friends and family via Facebook or Twitter.

In author Tomi T Ahonen’s blog, Communities Dominate Brands, he points out that only 400 million people access the Internet solely by way of a personal computer. Out of all 2 billion Internet users, that is a paltry 20%.

Consider the rapid growth of smartphones, as well as the millions of new users browsing the Web via tablet devices, and it’s not too far of a stretch to think that number could be closer to 10% by the end of the decade.

3. Consumer preferences are changing along with the way we communicate

Another strong indicator suggesting that mobile will play a deciding role in who wins and loses the social networking war is the apparent consumer shift from landline to mobile. People increasingly rely on their mobile phones for all their communication needs, not only voice.

According to figures released by the U.S. government earlier in the year, the number of American households relying exclusively on cellphones has seen an eightfold increase in the past six years, and was up around 27% in the first half of 2010. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) attributes this to both lack of use and affordability, as many lower-income families have chosen to cut the chord on their landlines in favor their cell phones.

Further studies have shown that it is not only cost savings and convenience that lead the change in consumer consumption habits, but new technologies that are changing the way people prefer to communicate.

In a recent Harris Interactive study commissioned by Rebtel, 19% of Americans claim they will use social networking more in the near future, with only 9% claiming to use voice. These figures are small in comparison to those who plan to use SMS, 28%, and video chat, 37%, more often in the near future to stay in touch with family, friends and co-workers.

Related research by Pew Internet shows that 13% of online U.S. adults are currently using Twitter, and half of those do so via their phone. This represents an 8% increase in users over last year, and signals that we are still in the very early stages of using our mobile devices to communicate with those in our various networks.

4. Pure mobile social networks

Group messaging services like GroupMe and textPlus and IP-based SMS substitute services like WhatsApp, and Kik, which had 2 million downloads within three weeks of its cross-platform launch, have given rise to a new era in mobile messaging and social networking.

Free services like these allow users to share photos, their location and send messages across different platforms that aren’t limited to 160 characters. They provide powerful tools for people to privately communicate in real-time with multiple friends at the same time. Also, perhaps most importantly, they are free.

Skype’s recent purchase of GroupMe is further evidence how this war is being waged on all sides of mobile. In a press release, Skype says that: “The acquisition of GroupMe complements Skype's leadership in voice and video communications by providing best in class text-based communications and innovative features that enable users to connect, share locations and photos and make plans with their closest ties.”

I expect we’ll continue to see many similar examples of these partnerships to offer better social networked utilities for customers who now expect the broadest scope of communications services at their disposal and social networking features directly integrated with their mobile phones.

5. Digital wallets and the new mobile economy

Increasingly, we see that consumers are more and more comfortable using a variety of services on their phones that were originally intended for desktop platforms; a prime example of this is the increase of mobile purchases and recent moves by major credit cards who are now feverishly keen on providing customers with a mobile digital wallet.

Gartner research currently predicts that mobile payment users will reach 141 million globally by 2011, with payments projected to hit $86 billion. That is a 38% increase in users and nearly a 76% jump in volume from 2010.

In addition to this, mobile revenues (now standing at nearly 1 trillion dollars for voice and data) is twice the amount of the personal computer industry. This includes advertising, subscription fees and content revenues.

Where the money flows, brands will follow, and this combined with all the other factors make it very plain to see that mobile will continue to be at the epicenter of the social networking battle not just in 2011, but for many years to come.

Author Note: Andreas is the CEO of Rebtel, the world’s second-largest mobile VoIP company. Prior to Rebtel, the Goldman Sachs alum was COO of Taptu, a leading UK-based mobile search engine, and TradeDoubler, Europe's leading performance-based marketing company.

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Personalization and incentives the key to mobile ads: report

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Posted 12 August 2011 13:01pm by Patricio Robles with 2 comments

Mobile is potentially the holy grail of marketing. Billions of individuals around the world own a mobile phone, and for many, the mobile phone has become the most important, most frequently used communication tool.

With smartphone adoption soaring, marketers can increasingly reach mobile phone owners in compelling ways. But that doesn't mean mobile marketing is delivering ROI.

A recent survey conducted by Luth Research for Upstream, a mobile marketing solutions provider, may shine some light on how marketers can change that.

The conclusion that can be drawn from the survey: forget timing and location. When it comes to what mobile users want, these things matter far less than personalization and incentivization.

In other words, hitting consumers with offers that cater to their interests and for which they've opted in is far more effective than trying to find a magical formula for hitting them with an unsolicited message at the right place and time.

Just how much more effective? Amongst the 2,000 individuals Luth Research surveyed, approximately 60% preferred personalized offers. Only 17% and 14% favored promotions based on timing and location, respectively.

According to Assaf Baciu, Upstream's SVP of Product Management, "This data reinforces the very intimate, personal nature of consumers’ mobile devices, and the singular priority for mobile marketers to carefully manage and optimize their engagement and number of interactions with customers."

The importance of recognizing that the mobile phone is a very personal device cannot be understated. Recently, in discussing marketers' general unhappiness with mobile advertising ROI, I noted that as powerful as mobile advertising has the potential to be, "advertisers should keep in mind that the mobile is also a very personal device, making the potential to annoy far, far greater."

The good news is that marketers may find that success with mobile is relatively simple: limit interactions to those that were requested, and find ways to incentivize action. Such an approach works in other channels, so it's not a stretch to believe that it would work with the mobile channel as well.

Econsultancy has published a Mobile Marketing Buyer's Guide which is aimed at those who are investigating the market for mobile marketing platforms, with profiles of 14 leading suppliers and an analysis of market trends.

Additionally, the Customer Engagement Report covers the extent to which businesses are using the mobile channel. See also our Mobile Statistics Compendium for data, facts and charts relating to mobile.

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10 Cheapest and Best Android Mobile Phones in India

As of now you would be aware of the latest market trends that it’s Android all over. These phones are gaining popularity amongst the young people as it is the powerful, eye-catching and user-friendly operating system launched by Google.

For those who don’t know about what Android is – Android is a software or the operating system for mobile phones that includes applications, firmware and the big advantages comes as its being an open source development by Android Inc with association of Google. The phones built-in Android allow users to create applications which are available to the Android market which can be downloaded directly from your handset.

While the top Android phones are the high-end smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S2, HTC Thunderbolt, HTC Incredible 2 and Motorolo Triumph but those are priced well over Rs 20,000 in India but not all the users would like to go with those smartphones. What they would be looking is the price attached to that mobile phone and with Android it’s possible to get mobile phones below 10,000 Rs. Even when you have 10,000 Rs budget in your mind, there are a lot of choices available for you in the Android.

Listed here are the top 10 Android mobile phone and order of the mobile phone doesn’t signify its ranking.

Acer beTouch E110

Acer beTouch is one of the cheapest Android based mobile phone available in the Indian Market. Apart from being Android OS, it’s also a 3G phone. It features a candy bar form and has resistive touchscreen with a screen size of 2.8 inches. It includes a primary camera of 3.15 mega pixel and provides a talk time of 5 hours and a standby time of 400 hours through its Lithium Ion based 1500 mAh battery. It includes Android 1.5 versions, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mini USB and FM Radio.

It’s priced at Rs 7,000. So if you want the perfect combination of 3G and Android with a limited price range in your hand than Acer beTouch E110 is the mobile to go with.

Samsung Galaxy 5

Recent launch from Samsung to its Galaxy series through Galaxy 5 marks the cheapest Android phone available from them. It’s mostly equivalent to the Acer beTouch but the only difference is that it has got much better screen and it has capacitive touchscreen. Additionally it comes with Android 2.1 Eclair operating system.

Samsung Galaxy 5 has got 2.8 inches screen with multi-tasking support up to 7 home screens.

It supports Swype keypad input for faster typing and its loaded with 600 Mhz MSM7227 processor. Additionally 2 megapixel camera is handy and required tool in today’s phones. It offers a decent talk time of 7.5 hours and a standby time of 21 days. It includes features like Bluetooth, WiFi, miniUSB, FM Radio and includes 90 MB internal memory.

Samsung Galaxy 5 is priced at Rs 8850 and it’s the next cheapest handset than Acer beTouch. Yes, you can have a go with it if you are looking for capacitive touchscreen.

Dell XCD 28

Dell XCD 28 boards a 2.8 inches resistive touchscreen. It boards 600 Mhz ARM processor with 256 MB of dedicated RAM and 256 MB of ROM. It has 3.2 megapixel camera and takes the snaps at its best resolution with autofocus.

It gets Android 2.1 operating system and has graphical rendering through the Adreno 200 GPU and chipset from Qualcomm. Additionally it has got GPS support through AGPS.

Moreover this is a 3G compatible mobile phone with 3G speeds of 7.2 Mbps with WiFi, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, microUSB port.

At 10,500 rs you can expect much better than this mobile configuration.

Spice Mi 270 Mobile

Spice Mi 270 runs Android 2.2 Froyo Operating system and it has got 2.8 inches capacitive touchscreen. Apart from being Android mobile phone Spice has made it dual SIM compatible with GSM + GSM. It includes a 2 megapixel camera with utmost resolution and A GPS support can be handy most of the times in navigation.

It includes connectivity through WiFi, mobile internet sharing through the WiFi hotspot, connectivity and file sharing through Bluetooth with A2DP. It’s priced at Rs 6400. It includes 600 Mhz processor.

Though you get 3 hours of talk time through its Lithium Ion 100 mAh battery it’s a go with the price mobile handset.  Its available in all Spice retails stores and other retails chains.

LG Optimus One

LG Optimus One has made it to the list of top cheap android mobile phone in India. It’s available with Android v 2.2 and can be upgraded to 2.3 now. It is also 3G compatible mobile phone with 3.2 inches capacitive touchscreen with accelerometer and proximity sensor.

It includes 600 Mhz processor and a dedicated graphic engine similar to Dell XCD 28. You can expect faster performance with this mobile phone as it includes 512 MB of RAM and supports 32 GB of memory card. It includes a primary camera with 3.15 megapixel clarity.

With Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, micro USB port and a top speed of 7.2 Mbps through HSDPA connectivity makes this mobile best at its price. It’s priced at 10,000.

Micromax A70

Micromax recent launch of A70 mobile phone get Android v 2.2 Froyo operating system with 600 Mhz processor and impressive 3.2 mega pixel camera. The mobile phone has some of the impressive features like 5 mega pixel camera with autofocus, connectivity through WiFi, WiFi hotspot sharing, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, micro USB port, and also includes secondary VGA camera.

It includes a Li ion 1450 mAh battery with talk time of 4 hours and a standby time of 168 hours. Micromax A70 is priced at Rs 7500 and it’s affordable with those specifications.

Spice Mi 310

The Spice Mi 310 mobile phone has 3.15 inches touch screen display with phone running on Android 2.2 Froyo OS. It’s a 3G mobile phone with connectivity options like Wireless LAN, high-speed 3G connectivity and GPS support.

It also has Wifi sharing option and USB tethering for laptop internet access.

The 2 megapixel camera and 3.5 mm audio jack along with FM Radio, Trackpad and proximity sensor makes this mobile well worth of its price Rs 7100.

Huawei IDEOS U8150

The Huawei IDEOS U8150 is an ideal 3G compatible mobile phone running on Android Froyo operating system. It has good hardware configuration with 528 Mhz ARM processor, Adreno 200 GPU and Qualcomm MSM7225 chipset. It includes 200 MB storage, 256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM.

It has 2.8 inches screen with accelerometer and proximity sensor. It has 3.15 mega pixel camera with autofocus and geo tagging. The connectivity options includes the WiFi, WiFi sharing, 3G HSDPA, micro USB v2.0 and GPRS with EDGE.

Its available in Black body / blue, red, yellow backpanels and it’s priced at Rs 8400.

Andro

Micromax Andro is the cheapest 3G & Android based mobile phone which runs Android 2.1 operating system launched by Google. It has 2.8 inches screen with accelerometer sensors, get 3G connectivity through HSDPA and HSUPA, includes WiFi, USB port and Bluetooth v 2.0 with A2DP.

It boards 3.15 megapixel camera with autofocus which is powered with 600 Mhz processor. With 4 hours battery backup and 240 hours of standby time makes the Micromax Android A60 to be priced at Rs 6600, the price can’t be beaten by any other 3G + Android mobile phone.

LG P350 Mobile or LG Optimus Me

The new LG P 350 mobile phone provides a complete smart phone experience with mobile running on Android 2.2 operating system and features like mobile TV. Basically it’s a 3G mobile phone with 2.8 inches screen with accelerometer and proximity sensor. The connectivity options includes the Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi sharing and microUSB.

It has a primary camera with 3.15 mega pixel with autofocus and video recording capabilities. It has A GPS for navigation and provides social networking integration. The battery lasts for 8 hours through lithium ion 1250 mAh battery.

It’s available in Black, silver, blue, red, pink colors and it’s priced at Rs 8300 in Indian market.

So whats your price and whats your choice among the Android phone mentioned above.

Yogesh Patel is a writer of technology gadgets, digital products like mobile phones, tablets PC, laptops & notebooks & on anything that is related to the gadgets which makes the daily lifestyle easier.

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