Linked List: January 29, 2014

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Google’s Own Collection of Claim Chowder Regarding Its Acquisition of Motorola ★

Eleanor Fox, antitrust professor, New York University School of Law:

One way to look at this is, how is Microsoft going to complain? How is Apple going to complain? What are they going to want?… In order to have a consent decree, they are going to have to find an anticompetitive angle.

Pretty sure Microsoft and Apple don’t have any complaints about this.

Even better, this one from Mike Voka, Android engineer at GroupMe:

I’m hoping that this is the push that really changes the whole game.

Samsung to Take Over 60 Carphone Warehouse Stores in Europe ★

Vlad Savov, writing for The Verge:

60 Carphone Warehouse stores across Western Europe will be converted into dedicated Samsung outlets, according to a company press release and spokesperson. The European phone retailer, which has some 1,400 stores across the continent, will continue to operate the shops in question, but they’ll sell only Samsung gear, spanning “products across Samsung’s full range of mobiles, tablets, laptops and wearables.”

The planned overhaul will take place over the next three months and follows the successful pilot operation of three such Samsung stores in Spain. It adds significantly to Samsung’s retail footprint in Europe. The UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and the Netherlands will all see familiar Carphone Warehouse locations turning into Samsung retail stores “with a premium look and feel.”

Let me guess: they’re going to look like Microsoft Stores.

Jay Haynes: ‘Apple’s $3 Trillion Valuation’ ★

Jay Haynes:

If we assume that Apple will grow its owner earnings at 5% for the next 10 years, and then 2% for all years after that (with adjustments for cash and debt), Apple’s market cap wouldn’t be $453 billion. It wouldn’t even be $1.2 trillion. It would be $3 trillion. This is a share price of $3,275 in contrast to today’s share price of $506. At just 5% annual growth for Apple.

That doesn’t mean the market is wrong. It just means the market thinks Apple’s growth is over, that it won’t even manage single-digit growth for the next decade.

How Much Did Google Really Lose on Motorola? ★

Michael de la Merced, writing for NYT Dealbook:

When Google bought Motorola, the hardware maker had about $3 billion in cash on hand and nearly $1 billion in tax credits. So that brings the original deal’s price down to about $8.5 billion.

Then, Google sold Motorola’s set-top box business to Arris for nearly $2.4 billion. That lowers the price down to roughly $6.1 billion.

Now, Google is selling Motorola Mobility — primarily the handset business, along with a few patents — for $2.9 billion. So we’re at about $3.2 billion.

I’m with him so far, but when he takes Google’s claims that Motorola’s patents (which Google will retain rights to) are worth $5.5 billion, because that’s what Google claims they’re worth, that’s where he loses me. Motorola’s patents have lost in court every time they’ve taken them to court. E.g. the chart on this post from The Verge.

Update: De la Merced doesn’t take into account that under Google, Motorola lost money every single quarter — several billion dollars in total.

Reuters: ‘Lenovo Nears $3 Billion Deal to Buy Google’s Motorola Unit’ ★

Nadia Damouni, reporting for Reuters:

China’s Lenovo Group is nearing a deal to buy Google Inc’s Motorola handset division for close to $3 billion, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, buying its way into a heavily competitive U.S. handset market dominated by Apple Inc. […]

A sale of Motorola would mark the end of Google’s short-lived foray into making mobile devices and a pullback from its largest-ever acquisition. Google bought the U.S. cellphone giant in 2012 for $12.5 billion but has struggled to revamp the money-losing business.

I bet it would take longer to literally flush $9.5 billion in cash down a toilet than it took for Google to do so figuratively on the Motorola acquisition.

Recode: ‘After Google Pressure, Samsung Will Dial Back Android Tweaks, Homegrown Apps’ ★

Liz Gannes and Ina Fried, writing for Recode:

In early January, while the rest of the consumer technology world at CES marveled at the sheer size of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy tablet, Google execs were dismayed by what they saw on the screen of the massive 12.1-inch slate — a fancy new user interface called Magazine UX. As Re/code’s Bonnie Cha wrote at the time: “The Magazine UX looks like a mix of Flipboard and Microsoft’s Metro user interface with its dynamic dashboard and app shortcuts.” In other words, the interface was a dramatic departure from Google’s vision for Android.

Multiple sources familiar with the companies’ thinking say the two technology giants began hammering out a series of broad agreements at CES that would bring Samsung’s view of Android in line with Google’s own. The results of the talks, which have only just begun dribbling out to the public, also underscore the extent to which Google is exerting more of its influence to control its destiny in the Android open source world.

I’m sure Samsung loves getting pushed around like this. Samsung doesn’t have a replacement for Google Maps, for example, so their backs are to the wall on this — and from what I’ve heard from a little birdie, Maps is one of the services Google is using to get Samsung to fall in line. It’s not really much of a negotiation — it’s Google telling Samsung to stick to near-default Android or they won’t license Maps and other Google services.

How Naoki Hiroshima Lost His Twitter Name Through Extortion ★

Naoki Hiroshima:

I had a rare Twitter username, @N. Yep, just one letter. I’ve been offered as much as $50,000 for it. People have tried to steal it. Password reset instructions are a regular sight in my email inbox. As of today, I no longer control @N. I was extorted into giving it up.

The attacker called PayPal on the phone, and convinced them to give him the last four digits of his credit card number. He then used that information to convince GoDaddy to hand over control of Hiroshima’s domain name. Flabbergasting.

What I don’t understand: Now that this story has been publicized, why hasn’t Twitter intervened to give back Hiroshima his Twitter name?