Google buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion

Google has just announced that they’re buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in an attempt to supercharge the Android platform. While the move will bring Google into the handset manufacturing business for the first time, potentially setting them up to deliver the same type of unified, integrated experience Apple is famous for, Google maintains they’ll be running Motorola as a separate business. Which raises some important questions:

Quotes from Larry Page and Sanjay Jha after the break.

[Google PR, Google Blog, Android Central coverage]

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, “We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.”

Just to remind us that Google will still be Google — unabashedly hypocritical to the last — Page added the following by way of the Official Google Blog:

We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to “protect competition and innovation in the open source software community” and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

Are “anti-competitive patent attacks” worse than “anti-competitive patent violations”? Google’s a big boy company now, facing regulatory scrutiny and lawsuits over their own practices, including their treatment of rival SkyHook, so how about we can the rhetoric and just make us some great new Googlerola phones, would you please?

UDPATE: Google’s ODM partners have responded to the news… in a way that makes us suspect Google snuck into their houses late last night and replaced them all with Android-powered Replicants. [Android Central]

Peter Chou, CEO, HTC:

“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.”

Bert Nordberg, President & CEO, Sony Ericsson:

“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”

Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D, President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company:

“We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”

J.K. Shin, President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division:

“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.”

Yeah, like Georgia said, “we welcome our new Motogoog overlords…”

Daily Deal: 60% off OtterBox Defender Series Case for AT&T/GSM iPhone 4

For today only, the TiPb Store has the OtterBox Defender Series Case for the AT&T/GSM iPhone 4 for on sale for a whopping 60% off. That’s three full layers of protection for less than most cases charge for one! We’re talking the full plate armor option here people! What are you waiting for — go get it before it’s gone!

Mobile Nations Monday Brief: August 15, 2011

Beats by Dre blog officially announces partnership with HTC HTC and Beats by Dre — the video First pics of Ice Cream Sandwich leaked, running on Nexus S	New BlackBerry 7 devices recap, roundup and more! BlackBerry Bold 9900 Unboxing Video! BlackBerry Torch 9810 Unboxing Video! BlackBerry Bold 9930 now available on Verizon’s website
Mobile Nations 0: Episode Zero Mobile Nations 1: Where the magic happens Mobile Nations 2: Not yet begun to fight! Mobile Nations 3: Full House! Mobile Nations 4: From boardroom to bedroom	HP gives TouchPad early adopters $50 for apps HP TouchPad gets a $100 price drop in the US and rest of world 7-inch "TouchPad Go" passes through FCC
New iPhone on October 7, no new iPad until spring 2012 Regarding patents TiPb Asks: What do you want from iOS 5 voice control?	Official Mango 7720 release leaked on XDA Google accuses Microsoft of revealing "highly confidential" Android source code. What? HTC Mazaa reveals faster GPU and more

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Poll: What does Google buying Motorola mean for Apple?

Holy heck! Waking up to the news of Google buying Motorola Mobility just shows you how fast our industry is moving and changing. But what does it mean for Apple, iPhone and iPad? Will Google really continue to run Motorola “as is” without much change, and Droids and Xooms will just come out again as they came out before? Or will Google start to copy the Apple model more and give Motorola exclusive Nexus handsets with much better, and even more competitive integration? Or will HTC, Samsung, and other Android OEMs feel screwed by this whole deal and start looking more seriously at Windows Phone or maybe even webOS, resulting in less choice for consumers on the Android side?

What do you think, TiPb Nation? Will Motorola for one welcome their new overlords and remain status quo, or is this the beginning of a new galactic order when it comes to iPhone and iPad competition? Vote in the poll above and give me your analysis in the comments below!

Does The Cinemax App Violate Apple’s No Porn Rules?

style="text-align: left;">href="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/screen-shot-2011-08-14-at-9-36-20-am.png">class="size-full wp-image-23070" title="screen-shot-2011-08-14-at-9-36-20-am" src="http://cdn.everythingicafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/screen-shot-2011-08-14-at-9-36-20-am.png" alt="" width="591" height="359" />

style="text-align: left;">HBO owned Cinemax has a rather sordid history of showing softcore porn and plentiful nudity late at night on their cable channel, but href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/max-go/id453560335?mt=8">their new iOS app has raised some question about Apple’s censorship rules. The app requires you to be an active subscriber to the channel, at which point you can stream all of their content — including the bits with full frontal nudity, which has caused the internet to href="http://gigaom.com/video/cinemax-ipad-porn/">explode in href="http://9to5mac.com/2011/08/14/scinemaxs-max-go-app-somehow-skirts-app-store-porn-police/">scandal.

style="text-align: left;">Here’s what’s worth noting about this. HBO’s streaming app has allowed sex and nudity for some time. You’ve been able to buy movies with sex in them and explicit books through Apple’s services for a long time.

style="text-align: left;">We’ve covered Apple’s inconsistent censorship href="http://www.everythingicafe.com/why-does-apple-censor-the-app-store/2011/06/23/">in some detail in the past.

style="text-align: left;">I think at least some of the reason for this getting away with this nudity is that it’s streaming content; that it comes from a major, respected partner; and that it’s incidental to the app as a whole, rather than its main thrust.

style="text-align: left;">It’ll be interesting to see if Apple reacts to this coverage in any way.

Revealed: What the Product in That “Mind-Blowing” Video Is

Remember that video we had href="http://www.iphonealley.com/blog/this-iphone-productvideo-is-100-mind-blowing-revolutionary-not-an-editing-trickhttp://www.iphonealley.com/blog/this-iphone-productvideo-is-100-mind-blowing-revolutionary-not-an-editing-trick">posted about two weeks ago that showcased a product with an ability to bring virtual items into the real world? If so, that probably left a fairly impressed, but skeptical impression. Though the skepticism is indeed justified, it is in fact a real product. Before we make the big reveal, why not take one more look at the video? Then scroll down for all the details.

src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/26997281?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0">

So what could possibly be the product utilized in the video to make real items appear to materialize out of the iPhone’s display? It is called Render, created by Sean Scott.

With Render, users can make objects vanish, reappear, and seemingly fly through the iPhone’s screen to create the effect that the virtual world and reality are becoming intertwined. Or at least make objects appear to do those things since in reality, this is just an effect. Confused? It is simply an illusion; a magic trick.

Do not discredit it just yet though. Despite how it is nothing more but magic, this is a trick you can really do for others. The core of magic is how good illusions look like the impossible is being done in a perplexing, non-obvious way. After all, you can make family and friends believe that you have the ability in the video. Heck, why not impress the technologically-impaired in your life?

One of the great things about magic tricks is that they can be uniquely altered to be done in multiple ways once a trick’s basis is learned, thus they can go a long way. Whether it is worth $35 or not is up to your desire to blow away/freak out.

[onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.penguinmagic.com/p/S13294');" target="_blank" href="http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S13294">product page]

Pad&Quill Little Black Book for iPhone, Contega for iPad 2, Cartella for MacBook Air

One of the most heart warming reactions to the ultra high tech aluminum, stainless steel, and glass aesthetic of Apple’s devices is the opposing trend in the case industry of traditional materials, forms, and binding techniques. Swathing something so precisely machined as an iPhone, iPad, and MacBook in something so handcrafted as a Pad&Quill Little Black Book, Contega, or Cartella just feels so right, so human.

When the best of old world craft meets the greatest in modern tech, however, how practical are the results? Follow on after the break to find out!

[Pad&Quill Little Black Book, Pad&Quill Contega, Pad&Quill Cartella]

If you’re an iPhone owner tired of iPad users getting all the moleskin hipster fun, you’re in luck. Pad&Quill have brought both to iPhone with the Little Black Book. From the beautiful binding to the snap of the elastic close to the smell and texture of the materials, it’s just perfectly realized.

You’ve got the high quality bookbinding cloth inside and Italian bonded leather outside, framed by durable Baltic Birch. There are some modern concessions — the ports are all cut out for easy access, as is the camera so you don’t have to extricate your iPhone to snap a picture. You can flip it around and set it up in a tiny, typing position, or crack it open slightly to sit it up portrait style. Both features work better for iPad than iPhone, but it’s nice to have them none the less.

One thing that’s important to remember, however, is that the Little Black Book is made in the moleskin model, not the wallet model. There’s no place for ID or credit cards.

If you’re not into the hipster look, however, these types of cases add a lot bulk and the Little Black Book is no exception. While proportionately the iPad version feels less voluminous, the Little Black Books adds sufficient size that it’s impossible to notice. You have to want a case like this.

If old fashioned style is more important that the extra substance — the Little Black Book is gorgeous.

Contega is Pad&Quill’s second bite at the moleskin-style iPad case apple and it’s an improvement in every way. You’ve got the same great materials — lacquered Baltic Birch, finely bonded Italian leather, and high quality book binding holding it all together.

It’s got an extra hinge that allows it to be set up at two different angles so you can get just the perfect movie watching experience, and the speaker cutout is caved to send the sound right where it needs to be.

Again, all the right cutouts for controls and for the camera are in place. There’s even a hidden pocket for any must-have-handy documents you want to keep with you. And to top it all off — it’s got magnets just like Apple’s SmartCover so your iPad turns on when you open it and off when you close it.

Nice.

If the 11-inch MacBook Air is the “iPad Pro” then Pad&Quill’s Cartella is the pro-level case. Yes, you needn’t feel jealous of all those magnificently mole-skinned iPads you see on the streets and in the coffee shops. You can dress up your MacBook Air every bit as much.

Because a MacBook Air is fundamentally different from iPhone and iPad — it’s intermediated by a keyboard and trackpad, the Cartella didn’t seem as usable as the Little Black Book or Contega, but it felt every bit as carry-able.

With iPhone or iPad, you can just flip them open like a book and start using the multitouch screen. With MacBook Air you need to put it down and open the machine up, not just the case.

If you want the look, that won’t bother you one bit. Otherwise it’s an extra step and shows the advantage of the multitouch screen post-PC format when it comes to getting your hipster on.

As usual, I tried all three for a week (with the exception of the Cartella — Georgia tried that one since she has the 11-inch MacBook Air). All three, Little Black Book, Contega, and Cartella are wonderfully crafted, fantastically good looking, fabulously old world cases for Apple’s latest, greatest, most modern devices.

They’re a tradeoff — the bulk is enough that you have to want the look to put up with it. But chances are you’ve already made your mind up about that. If you’re all in on the moleskin, definitely give Pad&Quill a look.