Googles Motorola deal a boon for Asia2011年08月17日 15:15 PMBy Robin Kwong,Song Jung-a in Taipei,in SeoulGoogles $12.5bn bid for Motorola Mobility is being seen as more of a boon than a blow for Asian smartphone makers, as executives and analysts play down the prospects of intensifying competition from a Google-owned Motorola.Shares in Samsung Electronics, the worlds biggest producer of Android phones by sales, jumped 6.1 per cent on Tuesday, while HTC rose 3.1 per cent, on hopes that Googles acquisition of Motorolas patents could help protect Asian hardware makers in an escalating smartphone patent war.Koreas Samsung and Taiwans HTC have become Asias two biggest phone makers by sales thanks to their Android-based phones. But both are embroiled in patent infringement lawsuits with Apple.One Samsung official said that while the Google-Motorola deal, which is expected to close at the end of the year, would not help in the lawsuits, “it can certainly protect us from future patent disputes”.Many handset makers have been vulnerable to legal attack as they move into making smartphones, which use patented technology for a range of multimedia and touchscreen functions that did not exist in traditional mobile handsets.The hope is that Google may license Motorolas patents to other Android phone makers, thus strengthening their patent positions. The weight of Motorolas patents now backing up Google could also give Android phone makers an upper hand when negotiating with other patent holders such as Apple or Microsoft.That line of thought appeared to outweigh fears that Google, which will become a direct competitor as well as a partner, could favour Motorola over other hardware manufacturers.Some industry observers say Google may eventually sell off Motorolas handset business while keeping control of the patents with Chinas Huawei and ZTE, which are making an aggressive push for more market share, potential buyers. “ZTE or Huawei could be interested in that if Google decides to sell it on,” said one industry executive.ZTE said it had no such acquisition plans in the short term but would not exclude the possibility in the longer term. “We have to see how this plays out,” said ZTE. Huawei declined to comment.What Google decides to do with the handset business could be influenced partly by the Motorola brands fate in China, the worlds largest mobile phone market by subscribers and one of the brightest spots for Motorola Mobility.Nearly all of Asias smartphone manufacturers, from Japans Sony Ericsson and Sharp to Chinas ZTE and Huawei, use Googles Android operating system for their phones. Likewise, in the fast-growing tablet market, personal computer makers including Acer, Lenovo and Asus produce Android-based tablet PCs.Park Kang-ho, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said Google “can certainly give preferential treatment to Motorola by providing Motorola with its updated Android operating system first. It will negatively affect Samsungs and LGs strategies by delaying their new product launches.”However, most hardware makers expressed confidence in Google chief executive Larry Pages promise to keep Android “an open platform and a vibrant open source community” and not favour Motorola.David Chang, Asus chief financial officer, said: “We believe Google would keep Android open because that is what has contributed to Androids success so far.”Others note that outside the US, Motorola is a relatively small player in the smartphone market, with just a 4 per cent global market share. “In some markets, we continue to compete with Motorola but Motorola has never been one of our stronger and bigger competitors,” said LG.Aaron Jeng, analyst at Nomura, said that even if Google were to favour Motorola, that would not guarantee a successful product. That was illustrated earlier in the year, when Google chose Motorola to produce the first tablet PC using Googles new Honeycomb version of Android. “The Xoom sold really poorly,” Mr Jeng said.While HTC, Samsung and LG have for a long time also developed phones using other operating systems such as Microsofts Windows Mobile, “they are likely to stick to the current strategy of focusing on Android phones”, said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities.One reason for this, Nomuras Mr Jeng pointed out, is that “so far, you still dont have to pay for using Android”.While some analysts immediately anointed Microsoft the big beneficiary of Googles move on Motorola, “all manufacturers who can afford it are already actively developing Windows phones and would welcome a better consumer adoption of the platform”, said Pierre Ferragu, analyst at Bernstein.“The Motorola acquisition is therefore unlikely to move the needle in terms of their willingness to make Windows Mobile a success,” he said.对亚洲智能手机制造商而言，谷歌(Google)斥资125亿美元收购摩托罗拉移动(Motorola Mobility)在更大程度上被视为一项利好、而非利空，因为业内高管和分析师们认为，投到谷歌旗下的摩托罗拉移动不太可能加剧竞争。由于人们预期，谷歌收购摩托罗拉的