John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Schmidt: Google Won’t Screw Up Android

Though its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility will put Google in the business of making smartphones, the search giant says other manufacturers of Android-powered handsets have nothing to fear. Motorola Mobility will be given no advantages over any other Android hardware partner.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said the company won’t allow its new ties with Motorola to spoil relations with its existing partners.

“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,” Schmidt told Bloomberg TV. “We need strong, hard competition among all the Android players. We won’t play favorites in the way people are concerned about.”

But if anyone else attempts to screw with those industry dynamics, watch out. Schmidt says Google Motorola is happy to use Motorola’s significant patent portfolio to protect the Android ecosystem.

“From our perspective, we will end up having enough patents that we can end up with a rough truce with everybody else, which is how it’s done,” he said. “That’s been the pattern in all other industries, and I’d expect something similar in ours. … We’re actually very happy with Motorola … The fact that they also had one of the best patent portfolios was certainly a component of our decision, but certainly not the only one. From the standpoint of [not] doing evil, that is a principle that we use to help judge our decisions around consumers. Are we doing something that is pro-consumer? I’m quite sure that protecting the Android system, making sure Android innovation can occur broadly, our hardware partners can import hardware into the U.S. and so on, is pro-consumer and pro-competitive. I think it’s a very good thing to be doing.”

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December 30, 2013 at 6:49 am PT

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December 29, 2013 at 2:12 pm PT

BlackBerry Pulls Latest Twitter for BB10 Update

December 29, 2013 at 5:58 am PT

Apple CEO Tim Cook Made $4.25 Million This Year

December 28, 2013 at 12:05 pm PT

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