谷歌的摩托罗拉难题:主导、创新还是保护主义?
What is Google thinking? 周一宣布将支付63%的现金溢价收购摩托罗拉移动的股票, at an offer of $40 per share, certainly stoked Wall Street interest. 然而，就Android平台最近成为第一智能手机操作系统而言，其长期效益就不那么明显了.
Based on a number of facts, 在过去的几个月里，我参与了对各种Android手机的一系列测试, it seems that Google is at a crossroads. 当涉及到平衡创新与市场主导地位，甚至一点保护主义，美国.S.风格, 收购摩托罗拉可能是为了短期定位，但可能会严重削弱Android对更大手机厂商的整体吸引力.
Consider a few facts.
First, Motorola has been losing market share in the U.S. 智能手机用户市场增速快于RIM, 尽管智能手机的总体使用量增长了8%，而且还在加速增长. 根据comScore对美国智能手机用户的3个月滚动窗口，这一数字为78.500万美元.S. 从2001年4月到6月，移动用户使用智能手机，但摩托罗拉的份额下降了1%.而同期苹果和三星的增长都接近1%.
第二个, 谷歌的Android和苹果的iOS是同期仅有的两个智能手机平台操作系统, Android在短短三个月内从35%上升到40%. 然而，主要的增长来自三星和LG智能手机，而不是摩托罗拉.
第三, Apple has filed a number of complaints in Australia, Europe 和—to a lesser extent—in the United States, 试图阻止某些手机和平板设备的进口，该公司称这些设备是其iPhone和iPad设备的“盲目复制品”. 这些惊人的相似之处是否只是巧合，还有待法律来确定, 但苹果曾多次成功阻止HTC, 三星, 还有一些是因为在全球几个关键国家推出产品.
第四, 苹果和许多其他公司最近从破产的加拿大电信公司北电(Nortel)那里获得了宝贵的专利. While Google had the "stalking horse" bid to begin negotiations, Apple teamed up with EMC, 爱立信, RIM, 微软, 和 Sony to present a bid of $4.5 billion for a total of 6,000 patents. Google, choosing to pay almost $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, 聚集近25人,000 patents (including 17,000 issued) into its patent war chest.
"Patents were meant to encourage innovation," wrote David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, at the time of the Nortel patent decision. "But lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it."
Patents are at the heart of the Motorola purchase, as Google seeks to balance—or, 有人会说, 在竞争中占主导地位(通过获得所有其他手机制造商必须使用的专利来接入移动电话网络). Nortel was a traditional telephony company, with many of its patents applying to wireline connections, 摩托罗拉移动是一家彻底专注于无线业务的公司.
The bigger question for Google, 然而, is whether it will now use the patent trove to stifle innovation, as it accuses Apple 和 others of doing. This question alone will keep the anti-trust regulators, who must approve the deal, 夜不能寐，似乎我们正在进入知识领域，就像强盗大亨们在专利领域抢夺土地一样.
收购摩托罗拉的一个副作用可能是，像三星这样的大型手机制造商——目前正因其Galaxy S II智能手机和较新的Galaxy Tab平板电脑而受到苹果的持续诉讼——只是选择放弃美国市场.S. 转而转向微软的Windows 7 Phone等平台. If that happens, Android's U.S. market share could easily be cut in half, 因为三星在美国销售的智能手机中占比超过25%.
谷歌也可能将收购摩托罗拉移动视为一条通向统一硬件平台的道路, marrying the Android OS with a custom-designed phone or tablet. 就市场份额而言，谷歌最近与三星合作推出Nexus(谷歌官方手机)的尝试在名义上取得了成功, but somewhat dismal in terms of quality of experience.
At the outset, I mentioned testing a number of Android h和sets. Adobe commissioned Transitions, Inc., a consulting firm I co-founded in 2003, 进行一系列测试，重点关注视频和媒体交付的一致性. 这些测试涵盖了本文中提到的所有制造商的许多手机.
What Transitions found, 和 published in two reports (Performance or Penalty? Assessing Flash Player 10.1 Impact On Android H和sets 和 合适的衣服?:使用Adobe Flash Player 10在Android手机和平板设备上的视频播放性能.2和10.3, 谷歌官方手机经常排在列表的末尾吗, 而摩托罗拉(Motorola)的设备在许多类别中往往排名靠前. 摩托罗拉手机当然不像其他一些设备那么漂亮, but they were functional 和 solid.
唯一的例外是摩托罗拉Xoom平板电脑上的Android操作系统的初始版本:使用Android“Honeycomb”3.01 和 Flash Player 10.2, the Xoom was fairly sluggish. 在测试过程中，transition收到了操作系统和Flash Player的更新.1和10.3, respectively) which delivered rock-solid results.
仍然, there was no one "perfect" device that balanced form, functionality 和 consistency of user experience. 这就是Android平台的问题所在:任何智能手机或平板电脑都只擅长一些事情, but not seamlessly in the way that Apple's devices are famous for.
这一切都是说，谷歌可以合理地利用摩托罗拉移动, which it will run as a separate entity, as a test bed for tighter hardware 和 software integration. Whether this turns companies such as 三星 和 LG, 那些已经面临苹果保护主义和诉讼威胁的人, 还有待观察, but Google just hedged its bets by acquiring one of the few U.S.-based smartphone manufacturers.
I'll be presenting a session at 流媒体 Europe, titled "Video for the Android OS: Challenges 和 Opportunities,来讨论过渡报告和Android平台上用户体验的更广泛的影响. 流媒体欧洲将于2011年10月18日至19日在伦敦举行.
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