There is no truer thing than the fact that our technological future is dependent on the technology business of today. Two very important bombshells dropped in the third week of August that call in to question the future of technology itself. On Monday, August 15, the news broke that Google Inc. would buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.
While the move is widely considered a defensive one in reaction to the continuing Android patent strife, the fact that Motorola is divesting itself of its smartphone, tablet and set-top box business is a very telling reality. The very word “Mobile” is the center of the financial world as smartphones and tablets flood the market, and the major wireless carriers fight to dominate the mobile data industry. For any company as large, experienced and vested in that market as Motorola is, to be able to abandon it is a shock to say the least.
Big Companies Dumping Largest Divisions
That shock was compounded just a few days ago by the announcement that HP was discontinuing its WebOS product and WebOS devices. Why would HP abandon a potentially lucrative product line that is already revolutionizing the computer and Internet world? This question has expanded, taking on a huge potential impact now that two of the oldest and most successful companies in the technology world have simply walked away.
HP is one of the first and oldest companies in the PC world, so the fact that is adding to the urgency is that HP also announced that it would sell off its PC business in addition to discontinuing the tablet. That is tantamount to McDonald’s announcing that it is selling off its fast food business. The question is, what is going to be left after the deals close, and why? The industry is in constant flux, so these announcements only serve to shake it up even more. Could these major players know something that we do not about the future of technology?
Where Does this Leave Consumers?
Technology is not only a major part of our modern world but without it, society would fail at this point, as we have become so reliant on it that even scammers and fraudsters wouldn’t be able to live without it. Stories of hackers and “botnet” gangsters running amok on the web and national security issues already assault us daily, and now that two of the oldest and most respected companies abandoning the market wholesale must leave everyone wondering if the end really is near.
It is clear that tablet PCs are rapidly replacing laptops as the primary venue for mobile data, as are smartphones, but this does not mean laptops and desktop computers are going anywhere anytime soon. This begs the question, why drop the business like a hot potato? It makes even less sense to abandon one’s position in the growing new market that is causing the change to bigger and better things.
Could it be that the patent wars are deeper and more damaging that we as consumers are being lead to believe? Are these companies abandoning major aspects of their long-standing business models simply because there is no hope of further success in winning those wars? If that is the case, then what does this mean for investors and consumers?
The AT&T – T-Mobile merger that every one fears will kill innovation and competition seems like much less of a threat in the light of these sell offs and other developments. What would happen if even more computer companies stop selling computers? Will the tech market weaken even more at a time when it is one of the few refugees of the global recession?
The Mobile Market Future
There are now two less companies making mobile devices and while Google pledged to keep Motorola Mobility intact, and HP’s PC division will certainly be purchased, no one knows whether these companies will continue as they are, as nothing is certain. This is even truer in the current market climate. Keeping in mind that BlackBerry’s platform is already in trouble, and HP is not selling WebOS, instead, it is killing it, so what does that leave consumers?
Unfortunately, the only major competitors in OS innovation are Microsoft, Android and Apple., since MOTOBLUR may be gone, and WebOS already is, but could Microsoft be next? Bing is way behind and Windows Phone 7 Mobile OS is by all accounts, dead as a doornail, and has been for a long time. With all these changes, can the remaining companies maintain and sustain a competitive market – would anyone even be willing to compete, and at this point, would it even be worth it? What happens in the next few weeks could alter the landscape drastically, but for now, the future of the mobile market and the entire mobile world is up in the air, all certainty gone and no reprieve in sight.
”¹Sources:
HP Scraps WebOS, Focuses on Business Market – Forbes via Yahoo! News:
“Google Plays Princely Premium for Motorola Patents,” Forbes via Yahoo! News
Don Reisinger, “Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is Dead: 10 Reasons Why,” EWeek
Woody Leonhard, “Microsoft Keeps Trying and Failing with Bing,” Info World