Google – probably the most well-known company in the world – has made a deal with HTC to buy the smartphone department of the Taiwanese business. Perhaps the Google owners are repeating their move and motive with Motorola, but on HTC this time?
What are Google’s purposes for buying Motorola and HTC?
In April 2016, Google invited Rick Osterloh – former Motorola CEO – to join the team. Osterlo now leads the newly formed division as the hardware manager. Recently, Google has shown signs that it would follow the same strategy as Apple by developing both hardware and software comprehensively. Moreover, Google has decided to invest in the field of chip manufacturing to be able to compete with what Apple is applying to iPhone series. Apple does not need to rely on any third-parties like Qualcomm, and Google wants to do so too.
On September 21st, Google signed a contract to purchase a part of HTC for $ 1.1 billion after HTC shares ceased trading on the Taiwan stock market. This was Google’s latest move to improve its hardware distribution. Mr. Osterloh did say that hardware is the most important part of Google’s business strategy, so it will continue to invest and develop hardware “for a long time.” The recent acquisition of HTC is the strongest evidence. In particular, HTC was a producer for Pixel last year, and will probably be behind the “Pixel 2”.
Actually, it is not the first time Google has acquired a smartphone maker. In 2011, Google spent $12.5 billion to own Motorola, but eventually sold to Lenovo for $2.91 billion three years later. In those three years, Google had to sell out many of its Motorola subsidiaries because they were not economically effective. After that, however, Google still considered its Motorola deal as “successful” since it retained a lot of Motorola patents. Therefore, buying HTC might be another way for Google to lay hands on the HTC’s intelligence properties.
Google’s motive revealed through Motorola and HTC’s deals
In conclusion, we think it’s not hard to see what the ambitious Google company is doing for its dream of dominating the smartphone market. As long as these deals bring benefits to Motorola, HTC, Google, and users, why not? Do you agree with us?