After Google purchased Motorola, both companies went completely silent about what would Google do with it. At first, people thought that Google would just sell everything and keep the patents, then, Google places one of their own at the helm of Motorola, trusting Dennis Woodside to run the company, but they’ve always said that both companies would keep their distance and they would be run as two completely separate entities with a “firewall” in between. Google has been very careful with this so other manufacturers won’t get mad since the Android ecosystem depends on having many OEMs working on different devices for every possible market.
After that, Motorola went into what felt like a complete hiatus without releasing a single device in a long stretch and people understood that Google was restructuring the company, the lineup and how they would think about smartphones from now on.
The WSJ is reporting that Motorola executives have said that they’re not only developing the Moto X and the 3 known Droid devices for Verizon but, they’re also working on low-cost devices and “wearable-computing” devices. Google has already created 2 devices under its own brand, the all but deceased Nexus Q and Glass, which is still in the very early stages and not ready for consumers, maybe Google has Motorola working on these devices but they will be released under Google’s branding, and Motorola will only release phones and tablets, in case the product fails, Motorola’s reputation won’t be damaged.
Some executives at Google see Motorola as an insurance policy in case the relationship with OEMs change. Up until now, Google hasn’t given Motorola any special privileges over other OEMs such as early access code, but according to the WSJ, people familiar with the matter are saying that this could change if Google’s relationship with Samsung changes since it’s the one company that has the most influence on the Android market.
So far, Google have been relatively active in “restructuring” the company, having laid off 5,000 employees around the world. Right now, Google is focused on making Motorola a profit-turning company, and they have a lot of work to do, Motorola lost just $271 million in the first quarter of 2013, but Google is on track, as Motorola reported a loss of $353 Million in the last quarter of 2012.
The Moto X and the new Droid line should be announced soon and we’ll see what else Google and Motorola have under their sleeves. I’m sure Google is trying to turn Motorola into an example on how devices should be for Android.