Qualcomm has said more phone manufacturers plan to roll out satellite connectivity, much like Apple’s latest iPhone.
The iPhone 14 included a first for Apple’s phone: the ability to send an emergency SOS via satellite. According to PCMag, Qualcomm has revealed that Honor, Motorola, Nothing, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi plan to use the company’s tech to bring similar features to their own phones.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite relies on Iridium, a leading satellite communications provider. The company also claims its chips will enable emergency SOS support worldwide, as opposed to the iPhone 14, which only offers the ability in the US, Canada, and parts of Europe.
Google was the big winner among smartphone makers in Q2 2022, with its market share growing a whopping 230%.
Q2 2022 was not a good quarter for North American smartphone shipments, with the overall industry experiencing a 6% decline. Despite that, there were a few bright spots, according to Canalys.
Apple and Samsung continued to dominate the market, being the most popular smartphone models among NA buyers. Despite the overall downturn, Apple’s share grew by 3%, Samsung’s share grew by 4%, and Motorola’s grew by a mere 1%. TCL’s share dropped by 1%, while “Others” dropped by 61%.
The real winner, however, was Google. Despite its Pixel series not breaking the top ten most popular, the company saw a 230% increase in its market share, bringing it to 2% overall.
Google has struggled to make significant headway in the market, despite its Pixel line of phones generally receiving favorable reviews. It appears the company has finally hit a winning combination with its Pixel 6 redesign.
Foldable phones may be all the rage, but Apple is still not convinced they’re the future.
Despite that, one notable holdout is Apple. According to leaker Dylandkt, Apple is testing multiple foldable designs, but remains unconvinced about the future of the market.
Numerous companies are working on foldable phones, most notably Motorola and Samsung. In fact, Samsung’s foldable phone shipments quadrupled in 2021 and the company expects the market to grow tenfold by 2023.
Apple also wants to avoid the pattern other companies have fallen into, where they release a subpar phone and then spend the next couple of revisions trying to fix it.
Dylandkt may not be one of the most well-known leakers but, according to AppleTrack, he’s ranked 7th on the list of Apple leakers, with an accuracy of 77.5%.
A new Motorola Razr is in development, a third-generation foldable device that could make headway in the market.
The Motorola Razr was one of the most iconic mobile phones in history, before seeing a rebirth as a foldable phone, the first to feature a vertical folding screen. Lenovo purchased Motorola Mobility in 2014, inheriting its smartphone business.
According to Android Authority, a Lenovo executive has confirmed a foldable Razr 3 is in development. The new phone will feature more processing power, an improved interface, as well as an updated appearance.
Given how popular early Razrs were, a competitive folding phone with a traditional flip phone form factor could be a big hit.
Apple has tasked its top supplier, Foxconn, with producing two different prototype designs for a foldable iPhone.
Foldable phones are considered the next evolution of modern smartphones. Foldable designs allow for phones that can more easily be carried in a pocket, yet expand to offer the screen real estate of a small tablet. While Microsoft, Motorola and Samsung have released foldable phones, Apple has yet to embrace the trend. Many believe Apple has been working to perfect the design and avoid the problems other companies have faced.
Apple’s plans may be closer to fruition, if the rumors are to be believed. According to TechRadar, citing Taiwanese website United Daily News, two prototype designs have passed the necessary durability tests to be considered for production.
One design is evidently the traditional clamshell style, such as those sold by Motorola and Samsung. The other design is reminiscent of the Microsoft Surface Duo’s dual-screen design. It’s unknown whether Apple will eventually release both designs, or consolidate around a single one.
Obviously, Apple testing foldable designs doesn’t provide a lot of concrete information, but it’s further evidence that Apple will likely enter the market once they are convinced they can do so with their usual panache.
Qualcomm has announced it is bringing 5G to its Snapdragon 4-series line of chips.
While many 5G phones have been announced, the vast majority of them are high-end models, such as the iPhone. As with any new technology, it is easier to roll it out at the top-end of the market first, using the purchases to help offset the cost of the new tech. As the technology matures, however, it inevitably becomes cheaper.
Qualcomm’s latest announcement is a big step in that direction, as it is bringing 5G to its Snapdragon 4-series chips, used primarily in low-cost devices. Motorola, Oppos and Xiaomi have all committed to using the chip in upcoming phones.
“Qualcomm continues to pave the way for 5G commercialization at scale, and the expansion of 5G into our Snapdragon 4-series is expected to address regions that currently have approximately 3.5 billion smartphone users combined,” said Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm Incorporated. “The Snapdragon 4-series 5G Mobile Platform is designed to exceed expectations for the mass-market segment by bringing an assortment of predominately high- and mid-tier features to a broader audience. It will deliver on the promise of making 5G accessible to all smartphone users.”
As we previously reported, Tim Cook announced what many had predicted: The Mac is officially moving to Apple’s custom silicon.
Apple has been rumored to be moving working on moving the Mac to ARM processors for years, especially as Intel has struggled to keep up with industry developments. In many ways, Apple’s current situation mirrors the situation it found itself in with its last line of chips, the PowerPC semiconductors.
Apple’s Semiconductor History
Used by the AIM alliance (Apple, IBM and Motorola), PowerPC was a RISC-based architecture that had a number of advantages over Intel and other x86 lines. Ultimately, however, Motorola and IBM fell behind Intel, in terms of development and processor speed. Regardless of how much more advanced the PowerPC chips may have been, Intel’s sheer processing speed eventually surpassed it.
To make matters worse, IBM was never able to solve the issues with heat. This was especially evident with the PowerPC G5 line of chips. While extremely powerful for desktop computing, it could never be used in a laptop, consuming too much power and producing too much heat.
After several years of falling behind, at the mercy of IBM and Motorola, Apple jumped ship to Intel. Once again, however, Apple is in the same boat. Intel has been struggling to keep up with demand and the move to 10nm processors, leaving room for its old rival, AMD, to make significant headway.
To make matters even worse, Apple has had issues with some recent MacBook Pro models not being able to sustain high-speed operations because of the heat generated by the Intel processors. Instead, the machines have had to throttle their performance, in some cases making top-end models run slower than low-end and mid-level MacBook Pros.
ARM Chips To the Rescue
The game-changing element for Apple is the rise of ARM chips, which the company uses in its iPhones and iPads. Arm Holding, the creator of ARM processors, was originally a joint venture between Apple and Acorn, before ultimately being acquired by SoftBank.
Unlike Intel or AMD, Arm doesn’t manufacture its own chips. Instead, it designs and licenses them for its customers to manufacture on their own. The company offers different license level, some of which allow customers to modify the designs to better suit their needs.
Apple, however, has the broadest license of all, essentially allowing it to do whatever it wants with Arm’s designs. The results are industry-leading chips that provide unrivaled performance. Case in point is Apple’s recent iPhone SE. Despite having an under-clocked A13 Bionic chip, it significantly outperforms flagship Android phones.
What’s more, Apple’s manufacturing process has been able to keep up with the demand for iPhones and iPads, which far exceed its Mac base. As a result, the writing has been on the wall for some time that Apple would eventually switch to its own custom silicon, taking its fate back into its own hands once again.
Performance and Power
One of the biggest benefits of moving to its own silicon is the ability to deliver Macs that offer better performance while consuming less power. For example, the current generation iPad Pro delivers better performance than most PC laptops on the market, and does so without a single fan to help manage heat.
Macs with Apple Silicon
In the large case of a MacBook, iMac or Mac Pro, the performance possibilities are thrilling. During the demo, Craig Federighi showed one of the new Macs running Final Cut Pro. Not only could he edit and add effects while the video was playing, but Final Cut could run three simultaneous 4K streams.
Final Cut Pro
Developers and Compatibility
While any processor change is a monumental undertaking, Apple has a history of pulling it off, with this being the third such transition.
Xcode Recompile
Federighi highlighted the work the company has done to help ease the process for developers, with many of them able to update their apps with just a few days of work. Microsoft and Adobe have already ported their software to run on the new architecture.
Microsoft Word
In addition, the company will make it possible to ship Universal apps that contain binaries for both Intel and Apple’s CPUs. Apple has labeled this Universal 2, and improved version of the Universal apps that contained PowerPC and Intel binaries during that migration.
In addition, macOS will include Rosetta 2, a translation layer that will run Intel-based software that hasn’t been updated yet. Again, Apple first introduced Rosetta during the Intel migration, allowing the Intel-based Macs to run older PowerPC-based software.
The new version of Rosetta is a significant upgrade, however. Whereas the original Rosetta translated an app at runtime, Rosetta 2 will translate the time of install. This will significantly improve performance of these older apps. Meantime, a just-in-time (JIT) compiler is still available if needed, such as when working with plugins.
In addition, Andreas Wendker demoed Parallels running Linux. This is an important factor, as it shows that virtualization is alive and well on Apple’s silicon.
Parallels on Apple Silicon
He also demoed Shadow of the Tomb Raider running in Rosetta translation mode. Despite running at 1080p, the game was flawlessly smooth.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
As an added bonus, the new ARM-based Macs will be able to run iOS and iPadOS without modification, thanks to the shared architecture.
Mac Running iOS Apps
Custom Silicon—A new Era of Mac Computing
Without a doubt, Apple’s move to its own custom silicon has been a long time coming. The move will help usher in a new era of Mac computing, with Apple firmly in charge of its own processor development.
As a company that has built its experiencing on tight control of the hardware and software, this is a move that will help usher in a new wave of Mac innovation.
Verizon achieved an industry first, hitting 4.2Gbps speeds on its live 5G network.
Ericsson was recently in the news for achieving 4.3Gbps 5G speeds, setting a new record. One big difference, however, is that Ericsson’s results were achieved in a lab, whereas Verizon’s 4.2Gbps was achieved on a live network. Verizon conducted the test in partnership with Samsung, Motorola and Qualcomm.
“We’re continuing to expand our 5G Ultra Wideband network, built to enable unique and transformational experiences for our customers,” said Adam Koeppe, Senior Vice President of Technology Planning at Verizon. “We are only beginning to scratch the surface of what 5G can do, demonstrated by this latest milestone.
“We continue to innovate and introduce advanced technologies on our 5G network that will help us reach never-before seen mobile capabilities and create new and exciting use cases across the consumer and enterprise landscape. Using 5G carrier aggregation, we are able to achieve unprecedented mobile speeds and bring the massive bandwidth available with mmWave spectrum to life.”
The fastest type of 5G, mmWave, has held the promise of gigabit speeds. It’s good to see Verizon delivering on that promise.
iFixit has done one of their famed teardowns of Motorola’s new folding Razr and one thing is clear: users needing repairs should let Motorola do them.
Motorola’s Razr is the company’s re-entry into the premium phone market. While reminiscent of the iconic flip phone of the same name, the new Razr is reimagined with a folding touchscreen design running Android.
iFixit has made a reputation tearing down new phones, tablets and computers, rating them based on how easy or difficult they are to repair. While Motorola’s phone may have an innovative design and aesthetic, it also has the distinction of earning iFixit’s lowest possible score for ease-of-repair.
The phone did score a point for only requiring a T3 Torx to break it down, but that’s where it stopped scoring. The outer covers are glued on, replacing the batteries (yes multiple) requires almost complete disassembly, multiple flex cables get in the way and the charging port is soldered to the main board.
iFixit summed it up by saying: “Motorola’s nostalgia-stoking Razr officially wins the award for most complicated phone-based contraption we’ve ever taken apart. We’re impressed with the numerous feats of engineering that Moto pulled off to resurrect their iconic clamshell.”
Any users who need to replace the batteries or screen would do well to pay Motorola’s service fees. Whatever the company charges is a small price compared to the nightmare involved in cracking this phone open.
CNET is reporting that Motorola is recommitting to the premium phone market, after years of making budget and midrange phones.
Motorola made headlines in November with an updated version of its iconic Razr phone. The new model keeps the old-style, flip-phone form factor, but reimagined as a folding touchscreen smartphone. The new design has the advantage of a relatively small footprint, while still being able to unfold into a full-size 6.2-inch smartphone.
At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit in Maui, Hawaii, the company made it clear the new Razr is just the beginning. According to CNET, Sergio Buniac, Motorola Mobility president, credited advancement in new technologies as part of the reason for the brand’s return to the premium market.
“Thanks to the new technologies announced today, we’ll have new premium products to announce in early 2020,” Buniac said.
The move is perfectly timed, as the mobile company has finally turned a profit after years of struggling, being sold to Google and finally Lenovo. In addition, with the cell phone market in a transformative stage—with 5G and foldable devices being the two hottest trends—companies that focus exclusively on entry-level phones risk becoming marginalized as the industry continues to evolve.
If Motorola can bring back the sense of quality and style it was once known for, it should be a welcome readdition to the premium phone market.
According to Fast Company, Apple may have its own 5G modems ready for production as early as 2022, ending its reliance on Qualcomm.
Apple has been trying to end its dependence on Qualcomm for some time now. Initially, the company switched to using Intel, while at the same time fighting a legal battle with Qualcomm over what it perceived to be unfair pricing. Ultimately, the two companies settled in April, followed by Apple promptly buying Intel’s 5G modem business.
Apple is likely looking to leverage its purchase to create its own modems where it would have full control. As Fast Company reports, Apple initially worked with Intel in the hopes of producing a “system on a chip,” where a modem would be integrated into a single chip along with the other processors Apple uses in iPhones and iPads. Doing so would provide significant power and energy benefits. Ultimately, that partnership ended because of Intel’s inability to deliver.
Now that Apple owns Intel’s modem business, the company will be free to continue its aspirations, without relying on other partners. Traditionally, Apple has always preferred developing its own chips. Prior to the switch to Intel, Apple partnered with IBM and Motorola to develop the PowerPC line of chips. More recently, the company has licensed ARM processors to create its A-series chips used in iPhones and iPads.
Despite Apple’s expertise in chip design, sources told Fast Company that 2022 is an optimistic launch window. Once the chips are fabricated, they must still be rigorously tested to ensure they work with carriers’ networks. One factor in Apple’s favor is the individual likely leading their modem efforts. According to FactCompany’s source, Esin Terzioglu, Qualcomm’s former VP of Engineering, is probably in charge of the 5G team.
Whether Mr. Terzioglu’s experience is enough to help Apple meet its goal remains to be seen.
“It’s a great day for us to be first in the world with 5G smartphones and turning on the network,” says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “We decided to turn it on today (8 days early). We are selling the Moto 5G phone. The z3 is in the stores. You can have a fantastic experience with the Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network in these two cities (Minneapolis, Chicago areas) right now.”
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, announces the launch of 5G in two cities and the availability of the Moto 5G phone in an interview on CNBC:
Verizon is First in the World to Turn on 5G
The team has been working relentlessly to give our customers this fantastic experience in 5G and actually our test is going so well. Why wait when we have some good news for our customers. So we decided to turn it on today (8 days early). We are selling the Moto 5G phone. The z3 is in the stores. You can have a fantastic experience with the Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network in these two cities (Minneapolis, Chicago areas) right now.
You’re going to see many more handsets with 5G coming out this year. We have announced two that we will have in the first half of the year. The Motorola, of course, is the one we are going with right now and we’re going to have a Samsung a little bit later in this quarter. That’s the two and then we have others coming in the second half. We’re going to see more 5G phones than probably were expected. We have at least a good relationship with all of those guys.
5G Rolling Out in Minneapolis and Chicago
When it comes to our rollout we are starting with these two cities right now. We’re going to do more than 30 markets this year and we’re working in all these markets right now. We’re going to turn them up as soon as they’re ready. Then we feel that we can give the experience that we want to give to our customers when it comes to 5G, meaning real 5G, and at the same time have the most reliable 4G network.
We think a lot about our customers and how we’re going to treat them. It’s a great day for us to be first in the world with 5G smartphones and turning on the network. I think that says a lot about the team that I have around me and the partners we have. We’re going to do a lot about education around it. Our stores have been trained now to explain what see you can do with it and, of course, we also talked about the ultra-wideband.
You’re Going to See So Much Innovation With 5G
We’re going to have speeds up to 1 gigabit per second compared to around of 50 megabits per second in 4G. It’s 20 times faster when you’re in the 5G zone. Of course, you can do so much with it at the same time. You’re going to have download speeds up to 300 megabits per second which means that it can take down things much quicker. The latencies will be some 30 milliseconds compared to 100 today.
And that’s just a start of 5G. What we saw in 4G was enormous innovation when you see these type of capabilities coming out on a network. You’re going to see so much innovation on 5G. I said it before. it’s not a small sort of evolution from 4G, it’s a quantum leap going to 5G from 4G. You’re going to see a lot of innovation and new applications coming on top of the 5G networks.
Verizon is First in the World to Turn on 5G, Says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg
There will be real-time enterprise solutions based on 5G, says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. He predicts that this is a way to transform an enterprise. Vestberg also says that 5G will continue to aggressively roll out this year and that there will be a Motorola and Samsung 5G phone possibly released within the next six months.
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, discussed on Fox Business at Davos 2019 the advent of 5G and how it will spark massive innovation and technological change:
5G Will Transform the Enterprise
With business, we are already global as well as with our media strategy with our Yahoo brands, etc. With the consumer, we are only in the US and that is where we are focusing right now. With the 5G coming up that’s, of course, opening up new markets for us that we hadn’t had before. When it comes to wireless consumption for consumers there’s not so much more growth to do. What we see with 5G are so many other use cases. Consumers get the best service now and with 5G they will get even better service than they have today.
We also have 5G Home which is a market that we don’t address today. Then, of course, there will be real-time enterprise solutions based on 5G. This is a way to transform an enterprise. It can be the production floor or a business campus that you transform with 5G. We see other use cases beyond consumers when we go to 5G. We will always take care of our consumers. We are the best network and we have the best performance and that will continue as well.
5G Phones Coming Very Soon
5G phones are coming soon. I have already announced that we will have two 5G phones coming out this year, preferably in the first half of the year. They will be from Motorola and Samsung. What it’s going to mean for consumers is when we have the 5G Ultra Wideband you are going to have 10X throughput and speeds.
I’m sure you are wondering about new use cases with 5G. Remember when 4G came, we didn’t know. I can tell you that when there are so many people on 5G phones people are going to innovate new services with the speed, the throughput, and the low latency. Our plan is to work with the different developers using our platform or our network service in order to get the innovation on top of it. That’s going to create a lot of new services.
5G Home Launching in More Markets
The home service has been predominantly a cable or fiber service. Nowadays, we can see that you can also do that with wireless. You can get it quicker and we also see an increase in cord cutting. We want to give optionality to our customers. If they want a wireless offering they should be able to have that as well.
We see that as a good opportunity. We already launched 5G Home last year in four markets and this year we want to launch in more markets.
Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown explains how China went from a great business opportunity in the mid-1980s to an intellectual property stealing concern following their acceptance into the WTO in 2001.
Brown says that when China implemented the indigenous cellular standard PDT, that in essence if Motorola wanted to play there and continue to provide systems, they would have to offer up the IPR associated with that. Following that China became less and less attractive.
Greg Brown,Motorola Solutions CEO, provided a great picture of how China has stolen intellectual property from Motorola and many other US companies who do business there in an interview on CNBC:
For Years, China was Great
Historically, you can even go back to 1972 when President Nixon first arrived in China, he spoke on a Motorola provided satellite phone following the Kissinger talks. You fast forward, and in 1986 Bob Galvin led a delegation there, and in ‘87 Motorola invested and had a manufacturing and R&D footprint. For years, China was great, and the Motorola story was great, and revenue boomed, investment boomed, and collaboration boomed. Then China joins the WTO and things pivot a little bit.
To Do Business in China Motorola Had to Give Up IP
The Chinese market matures and China moves toward indigenous standards. At the time there were cellular standards called CDMA, TDMA, that ultimately went to GSM. China had their own and they called it TDS CMEA. We in the US had WiFi. They had their own and it was called WAPI. In policing, China implemented an indigenous standard called PDT, police digital trunking, that in essence said Motorola if you want to play here and continue to provide systems, you have to offer up the IPR associated with that. China became less and less attractive.
We had a lot of firsts historically. We had the first mobile phone with Chinese characters, and the first mobile phone with global positioning – GPS. At the time Motorola built the largest contiguous network in China. All that is great.
Chinese Firms Huawei and Hytera Stole IP
Historically, we had litigation with Huawei around trade secret violations. We sued them in 2010 and was settled in 2011. But as we sit here today we have a lawsuit ongoing right now with a Chinese company called Hytera. They’ve done three things; patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and copyright infringement. Pretty egregious, vast multi-year campaign. We’ve sued them in the Northern District Court of Illinois, Germany, where we won both cases by the way, Australia pending, and most importantly in the ITC where we just won a final determination that in fact Hytera took IPR and infringed our patents. So we are awaiting the implementation of an import ban in January.
Need Level Playing Field in China Where IP is Not Stolen
Recently, Australia has said they are concerned about Hytera 5G Gear. New Zealand has made that determination. In Britain, the U.K., just announced a few days ago, that they want to pull out Huawei 4G out of their core. I get the high stakes and I get the two juggernauts (US vs China) competing. We are all for competition, robust, let the customer win, and everybody brings their best game to the party. But when it is not a level playing field and IPR is stolen, we just are saying compete on a fair and firm basis.
Business in China a Fraction of What it Used to Be
We’re still in China, but we don’t do manufacturing in China and we don’t do R&D. We have sales and sales support staff. It is an okay market for some of what we call our PCR equipment. We have collaboration with some local Chinese partners. But to dimensionalize it, like 15 years ago we were over $3 billion in revenue and 15,000 people, today we are about $170 million in revenue and 170 people. What we are is the Western leader and alternative in mission critical communications, command center software, video surveillance and analytics.
Cellphone deals seem like they would be exclusive to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and that is mostly true. If you’re in the market for the latest devices, you’ll have to wait for sales. What about low end devices? Have the cheap phones of the world finally reached a point to where a user will get an exemplary experience without breaking the bank?
NPR reports that low-end smartphone are finally starting to dominate the market. It was only a few years ago that lower end smartphones paled in comparison to the iPhones and Galaxy Notes of the world, but low-end is no longer a sign of inferiority. Sure, low-end smartphones still boast lower specs than their cutting edge contemporaries, but the experience is no longer curtailed. Interestingly enough, the trend began with Microsoft.
Nokia defined what the Windows Phone experience should be with its high-end devices, but it provided the same overall experience to low-end devices as well. It all began with the Lumia 520 – a $30 smartphone that delivered a full Windows Phone experience. How did Nokia achieve this? It’s all thanks to Microsoft building the Windows Phone platform as one that can easily scale with the hardware that it’s on. Nokia followed up the 520 with the 521 and 525 – both of which provide the full Windows Phone experience on sub-$100 smartphones.
So let’s say you’re a staunch Android fan and you’re tired of putting up with subpar low-end Android devices. After all, Android was seemingly built for high-end devices, and the experience suffers when the mobile OS ends up on a device with a slow CPU. Thankfully, Google has greatly improved the experience by making later versions of Android compatible with more low-end hardware configurations. In other words, you’re now going to get a great Android experience on low-end devices as long as the hardware manufacturer doesn’t slow down the experience with bloatware.
The best example of affordable Android devices comes in the form of Motorola’s Moto G. The 8GB version retails for $180 while the 16GB version retails for $199 – both of those are off-contract prices mind you. You can also get the Moto G Google Play Edition which comes with stock Android for an even better experience.
The only real holdout is Apple. The company still primarily makes luxury devices so you’re going to have to sign a contract if you want an Apple device on the cheap. The good news is that the excellent iPhone 5S is only $99 when you sign a two-year contract. Unfortunately, the off-contract price is $549 so those hoping to avoid contracts when buying an iPhone still don’t have a cost effective option.
Only a few years ago, it was unthinkable that a smartphone could cost less than $100. Now there are more sub-$100 options than ever. Those who are still holding out on a smartphone have no excuse this holiday season.
All the way back in January, Google announced that it was selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion. On Thursday, the acquisition was completed.
This includes the Motorola brand and portfolio of smartphones, such as Moto X, Moto G, Moto E and the DROID series. It automatically makes Lenovo the third largest maker of smartphones.
“Motorola is in great hands with Lenovo, a company that’s all-in on making great devices,” said Google CEO Larry Page.
Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said, “Today we achieved a historic milestone for Lenovo and for Motorola – and together we are ready to compete, grow and win in the global smartphone market. By building a strong number three and a credible challenger to the top two in smartphones, we will give the market something it has needed: choice, competition and a new spark of innovation. This partnership has always been a perfect fit. Lenovo has a clear strategy, great global scale, and proven operational excellence. Motorola brings a strong presence in the U.S. and other mature markets, great carrier relationships, an iconic brand, a strong IP portfolio and an incredibly talented team. This is a winning combination.”
Motorola will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lenovo. Its headquarters will stay in Chicago. With the acquisition, Lenovo is taking on 3,500 employees globally and 2,800 in the United States. This includes designers, engineers, sales, and support.
Google will continue to hold the majority of Motorola Mobility patents, though Motorola will get a license to the portfolio. Motorola will retain over 2,000 patents as well.
Google announced a new update for Android Wear, its wearables operating system, as well as a new watch from Sony.
The update enables Android Wear support of watches with GPS sensors, which means you won’t have to have your phone close by to do things like track your route, distance, and speed or listen to music while you’re running or biking. You can store music on your watch, and listen to it via Bluetooth headphones while your phone is back at home.
Google names Golfshot and MyTracks as apps that are already taking advantage of the update. Google Play Music is supported too, of course.
Starting today you can pre-order the Sony SmartWatch 3 from Verizon Wireless and it’s coming soon to Google Play. SmartWatch 3 is the first Android Wear watch to include a GPS sensor—perfect for enjoying today’s updates. It has a transflective display that improves battery life and is really easy to read in sunlight, so it’s a great fit for staying, well, fit.
Of course, Android Wear offers a range of shapes, styles and sensors to help you find the wearable that’s right for you. The LG G Watch, the Samsung Gear Live, and the Moto 360 will all be updated to include the new music functionality over the next few days.
As Google continues to update Android Wear, and more devices make their way to availability, it’s going to be interesting to see how it competes with Apple Watch, which is on its way next year.
In September, it became more than a partnership when the two companies announced that Microsoft would buy Nokia’s Devices & Services business, and bring Nokia CEO and former Microsoft employee Stephen Elop back to Microsoft. Shareholders approved the deal in November, and in December, it won European Commission approval.
Microsoft announced last month that it expected to close in April, and on Monday, it said it will close on Friday. On that date, Nokia’s Devices & Services business will officially be part of Microsoft. Brad Smith, General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs at Microsoft writes on the company blog:
The completion of this acquisition follows several months of planning and will mark a key step on the journey towards integration. This acquisition will help Microsoft accelerate innovation and market adoption for Windows Phones. In addition, we look forward to introducing the next billion customers to Microsoft services via Nokia mobile phones.
As with any multinational agreement of this size, scale and complexity, our two companies have made adjustments to the original deal throughout the close preparation process. We’ve entered into numerous agreements to address items ranging from manufacturing to IT. These include the following:
· While the original deal did not address the management of online assets, our two companies have agreed that Microsoft will manage the nokia.com domain and social media sites for the benefit of both companies and our customers for up to a year.
· The original deal had all employees in Nokia’s Chief Technology Office continuing with Nokia. We’ve adjusted the agreement so the 21 employees in China working on mobile phones will join Microsoft and continue their work.
· The original deal had Microsoft acquiring Nokia’s Korean manufacturing facility. The agreement was adjusted and Microsoft will not acquire the facility.
Microsoft also announced on Monday that it has entered into a patent licensing agreement with Motorola Solutions, Inc. The deal covers devices running Android and Chrome OS.
“Microsoft and Motorola Solutions share a respect for intellectual property and a commitment to fair and reasonable patent licensing programs,” said Nick Psyhogeos, GM, associate general counsel, IP licensing of the Innovation and Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. “Microsoft prefers licensing to litigation, since licensing is a more effective way to share technology and accelerate the pace of innovation.”
“Our Motorola Solutions communications technology works best for everyone when it is backed with robust intellectual property and patents,” said Joe White, vice president of Enterprise Mobile Computing, Motorola Solutions. “We are pleased to have agreed upon a solution that allows our customers to purchase Android products from Motorola Solutions with confidence.”
Terms were of the patent agreement were not disclosed.
Google-based smartwatches have been rumored for quite some time, and today, the company finally revealed it its platform for such wearables: Android Wear.
Android Wear is described as a project that extends Android to “wearables,” and they’re just starting with watches. The company is already working with Samsung, Asus, HTC, LG, and Motorola as well as chip makers Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, Mediatek and Qualcomm. It’s also working with fashion brands like the Fossil Group.
There’s a whole lot of “Ok Google” involved. Check it out:
Google says Android Wear will show you info and suggestions you need “right when you need them”. You know, Google Now basically, but from a watch (or whatever else ends up utilizing it). But third-party apps will make or break this thing.
“The wide variety of Android applications means you’ll receive the latest posts and updates from your favorite social apps, chats from your preferred messaging apps, notifications from shopping, news and photography apps, and more,” says Sundar Pichai, SVP, Android, Chrome & Apps.
“Because Android for wearables works with Android’s rich notification system, many apps will already work well,” he says.
Last week, Motorola didn’t really show off any new hardware at Mobile World Congress. After all, the company is soon to change hands as it heads off to Lenovo later this year. Instead, the company took time out to haven an open and frank discussion with its executives to talk about the company’s present and future.
Motorola shared a 30 minute video today in which three executives – Rick Osterloh, Steve Horwitz and Mark Randall – discussed everything Motorola at Mobile World Congress. The event wasn’t streamed so this is the public’s first chance to see how Motorola execs feel about going to Lenovo and its success with the Moto X under Google.
In regards to Lenovo acquiring Motorola, the execs say the two will combine to become the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. They also say the acquisition will help them scale their product development even higher to serve more consumers, especially in emerging markets where Lenovo currently has a strong foothold.
Throughout its history, Motorola has been one of the most well-known mobile hardware developers in the business. Its prominence has waned in recent years, however, in the face of Apple and Samsung. With its move to Lenovo, both companies will no doubt work together to bring Motorola back to the forefront of the mobile discussion.
It’s been rumored for a while now that Google has been working on a smart watch. As it turns out, Google actually had a prototype at one point, but it was scrapped.
So, what was this Google Watch like? According to the report and photos, it featured a rubberized strap, a small square display, one back button on the bottom of the device, a button on the side and two buttons on the top. Here’s what it looked like:
So, what happened? It’s hard to say, but I would guess that Google’s sale of Motorola to Lenovo got in the way of development. The project was therefore scrapped before it could get out of the prototype phase.
Despite the apparent death of the Google Watch, Motorola is still working on a wearable. The company announced its intentions to pursue the smart watch space on Twitter earlier this week:
Rick – We are working on a watch that will be available this year. We aim to address consumer issues like style & battery life #MotoMWC
As for Google, the company will reportedly be teaming up with long-time Nexus partner LG to produce its smart watch. Whether that smart watch is anything like the Motorola prototype remains to be seen.
