Google vs Microsoft: a case study in how you win and lose manufacturers’ love

posted by Victor H. / Jun 29, 2012, 8:47 AM

Google vs Microsoft: a case study in how you win and lose manufacturers’ love

Last week, Microsoft unveiled its Surface tablet - self-made, with no collaboration from any of its manufacturers, not even Nokia. We can’t even twist our tongues to say Microsoft really unveiled it.

The company rather teased what it will be, but provided no specifics and put it on stands with ropes to keep reporters from even getting closer to the tablet.

Not only we in the media were upset, though - Acer was angry and said Microsoft will fail. Others weren’t so vocal, but we can imagine they were not very happy to hear they have direct competition now from Microsoft.

The Microsoft Surface, designed and made by Microsoft.

Microsoft said it had warned manufacturers, but for many the initial reaction was clearly one of surprise - we were left with the impression that some OEMs just didn’t expect this from Redmond. The Internet was again abuzz with talk about the resurrection of the Evil Empire. And while Microsoft got its partners frustrated with its obviously surprising tactics, Google took the complete opposite turn.

The search giant finally unveiled the Google Nexus 7 tablet - the product of a four-month collaboration with Asus. On the back, the slate has both the Nexus branding and Asus’s name engraved on the rubbery back coating.

What point are we trying to drive home here? There was one company Google spent $12.5 billion on and it didn’t get Google’s largest tablet project. That company as you’ve already guessed by now is Motorola. One thing became glaringly clear - at least for the time being - Moto is not getting the red carpet treatment from Google.

“At first I think our partners weren’t sure whether we really meant what we said about not giving Motorola preferential treatment. But they’ve seen us do another Nexus smartphone with Samsung and the Nexus 7 tablet with Asus, so I think they see that Motorola is not getting preferential treatment. It’s all about the ecosystem,” director of Android partner engineering Patrick Brady, said in an interview for CNET recently.

Looking back at events we appreciate just how densely packed with events June was. First we had Apple’s WWDC where the company iterated on its strategy with iOS 6 and its focus on high-res displays driving hardware advancements in the industry.

Google picked Asus, not its own Motorola, for the Nexus 7 tablet.

But the one week when the most important news happened was the short period between Microsoft’s Surface event and the ongoing 2012 Google I/O, that allowed to clearly see the contrast in the attitude toward manufacturing partners at Google and Microsoft.

Software and hardware innovation came a long way in the last couple of days, and we now find it hard to judge who wins the mobile OS battle after all the news we heard, but it seems clear that Google is now winning the battle for manufacturers’ love.

source: CNET

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56 Comments

1. mercorp

Posts: 1045; Member since: Jan 28, 2012

THumbs up.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 8:48 AM 6

11. Wiki_jaan

Posts: 704; Member since: Jun 24, 2012

really! but y

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 9:25 AM 2

2. pokharkarsaga

Posts: 550; Member since: Feb 23, 2012

thumbs up for Google thumbs down for Microsoft

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 8:53 AM 15

6. nak1017

Posts: 328; Member since: Jan 08, 2010

Even people at Microsoft are surprised about that move... honestly, someone needs to fire Ballmer.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 9:11 AM 5

24. haseebzahid

Posts: 1853; Member since: Feb 22, 2012

win for android only for OEMs users may have totally different point of view Goolge tablet in my opinion is a toy and it is priced exactly what a toy should be MS made a pro device

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 10:44 AM 3

3. fsnas

Posts: 122; Member since: Jun 18, 2012

I really don't care about the OEM "feelings" !! the only things that matter are quality and performance. And while the OEM couldn't provide a great product like the Surface then the hell with them, they're holding MS back.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 8:59 AM 4

4. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

" Moto is not getting the red carpet treatment from Google. " honestly though, what have they done to DESERVE the red carpet treatment other than being bought? Asus deserved to get it. Look what theyve done with the transformer. All that power and tons of options without a massive price tag. Samsung is fighting a "premium" battle with apple in the tablet space, and other than Asus, everyone else has pretty much flopped, including Moto. The moto tablets are good, but they are not better than Asus tablets.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 9:02 AM 12

9. Jericho unregistered

Haha.......typical remix always dragging samsung into every discussion. Dude grow up.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 9:24 AM 8

41. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

you should take your own advice. I was making a point. Name the biggest android manufacturers not counting the Kindle. Asus and Samsung. Everyone else is marginal. If you had reading comprehension maybe you would have understood that before commenting.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 1:27 PM 2

15. Victor.H

Posts: 1062; Member since: May 27, 2011

Well, on the other hand, Motorola didn't do much to deserve to be acquired for that much money. And I mean the hardware division, not patents.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 9:36 AM 7

18. Jericho unregistered

vic is a loser.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 10:01 AM 3

39. Sangeet

Posts: 232; Member since: Apr 21, 2012

@Jericho Shut up..!! I am sure that you can't even write a decent Article however hard you try. Writing post is not an easier task so please atleast don't insult the writers cuz you are not even half what they are

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 12:48 PM 5

48. SleepingOz unregistered

The only loser here is you, dude. Just saying. =]

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 4:36 PM 5

35. taz89

Posts: 2014; Member since: May 03, 2011

12.5 billion for 20,000+ patents(including patents waiting to be approved) is not much when you compare it to 5 billion for the 6000 nortel patents they were bidding for...everyone knows google just wanted motorolas patents and the hardware division just was a bonus

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 11:49 AM 2

40. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

Vic, for what they acquired everything for, they were really paying standard trading price for the patents. Google got Motorola the company as a bonus of sorts.. the company itself was completely free when you look at the cost per patent they paid. That doesnt say much for the health of the company. Im sure el goog will turn it around though, if they are playing "favorites" or not.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 1:25 PM 4

22. McLTE

Posts: 922; Member since: Oct 18, 2011

What did Moto do? Well.. with the Droid 1, I think Moto helped Google put the Android OS on the map. HTC and T-mobile got things started, but the Droid1 really helped it explode. Could Google have done it with another manufacturer? Maybe.. but it was the Droid1 that did it first. I'm not saying it buys them preferential treatment.. and I really like that Google is not handing Moto the next Nexus phones. I would however love to see what Moto would come up with for a Nexus phone with a massive battery.. that would definitely be worth a look!

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 10:36 AM 3

42. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

every year the handset makers submit their best "product" to google to become that year's nexus. Its supposed to be a fair blind competition where they send all the phones in to goog and goog picks the best one to become the Nexus for a year. If moto hasnt become a nexus yet, then moto hasnt submitted the best handset to Goog. It would be neat to see some fresh design language ( HTC's Nexus 1 was much different than other sets of the time, while Samsung uses top notch hardware but rehashes familiar designs)

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 1:29 PM 4

5. tegradragon

Posts: 68; Member since: May 23, 2012

Just out of curiosity, why is Microsoft the Evil Empire?

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 9:08 AM 5

7. nak1017

Posts: 328; Member since: Jan 08, 2010

Because it's 1995 again I guess...

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 9:12 AM 5

14. PAPINYC

Posts: 2315; Member since: Jul 30, 2011

That statement was taken out of context, Microsoft is not 'The Evil Empire' and Steve Jobs had no reason to loathe Bill Gates and accuse him of running an 'Evil Empire'. Microsoft has worked arduously over the last twenty years (or so) to deliver efficient and productive platforms and products. Unfortunately, because their upper echalon of Management seem to be out of touch with the consumer and marketplace, mainly because the Sun's rays seem to refract light and energy differently on their bald heads (but, iDigress), many of those products have been absolute failures. Trust me, so too, a failure will be these tablets. Don't get me wrong; I want Microsoft to win, they are 'The Good Empire' but, they are just as out-of-touch in 2012 as they were in 2007. As with everything 'tech', time will tell and the true 'Evil EmpiRe' will diE in vAlhAlA.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 9:30 AM 4

28. haseebzahid

Posts: 1853; Member since: Feb 22, 2012

if their Tablet runs without bugs in start Android will be in deep trouble and Ipads will be extinct in matter of months since theratically they did what 90% of people wanted for a tablet to be like not an expensive TOY(Ipads/Android tabs) if u guys thing i am making fun of non MS tablets as toys u can think ur self wht is the purpose of quad core with 2GB ram whihc can only run games (not even high tech engine), music(too big for that), newspaper(its only for a time being), vedios(how long will u enjoy it) their will be a point where user will want Tablet to do more just like a laptop this is where MS nailed everything....

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 10:57 AM 0

31. nb2six

Posts: 298; Member since: Apr 27, 2011

When has microsoft not released something that didn't have bugs galore? Vista anyone...

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 11:04 AM 4

33. haseebzahid

Posts: 1853; Member since: Feb 22, 2012

lets hope they did actually learned from their past mistakes for change their WP7.5 is very stable and bug free OS but yes it is limited and restricted dont matter here its irrelevant for this reply so hope is high Win8/Wp8 would be error free as well

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 11:08 AM 0

49. SleepingOz unregistered

Since when do "limitations and restrictions" not matter?

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 4:46 PM 1

50. Oxygen

Posts: 125; Member since: Mar 29, 2012

since it concerns nokia and ms, i guess...

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 4:48 PM 1

51. Oxygen

Posts: 125; Member since: Mar 29, 2012

It is your biased reasoning that is irrelevant, sir.

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 4:51 PM 1

53. TROLL.ISAHA

Posts: 535; Member since: Mar 28, 2012

Shaarup. . Go gets some knowledge...

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 6:33 PM 0

34. McLTE

Posts: 922; Member since: Oct 18, 2011

MS is one the original evil empires! do you forget the days when they were scheming with OEMs to force brower installations? how they tried to squash Netscape and Firefox? Don't paint MS to be an angelic corporation here.. they are barely better than apple in my opinion. Part of why many saw MS as an evil empire is because they dominated. We all want the little guy to win, so we rooted for Apple... now they dominate and their size, along with shady practices has caused them to take the evil empire slot. I hope the surface succeeds! It's good for those of us who want a tablet that acts more like a PC and less like a big phone OS. This will cause a massive push in competition with Apple and Android as well. We all win!

posted on Jun 29, 2012, 11:28 AM 2

27. haseebzahid

Posts: 1853; Member since: Feb 22, 2012

because its bacause of them the whole world is running PCs and stuff related on ohter hand Apple/Google are new born child who takes pride in one of their archivments while MS dont bragg about the unlimited things they gave to world in past