Much has already been written about the deal between Google and Motorola. A lot has been said about how the deal adds about 60% to the headcount for Google. Also, a lot has been written about what the deal means for the partners of the Android platform such as HTC and Samsung. Also in news has been the access which Google has gained to Motorola’s vast annals of patents. The argument that is of great interest is in context with Apple and the idea is that Google wants to use the deal to become an integrated supplier, i.e. a supplier of both software and hardware, just like Apple. It is definitely a fact that the ways of Apple are the best way to follow. Even if we keep ideological arguments aside the balance sheets would definitely agree.

Google has been purely a software company. It is a brilliant company and has developed many incredible products that have helped it make a lot of money. But it is just a software company or we can say that it was so at the beginning of this week. For over the last 30 years Apple has been a hardware company but has now grown to be a great software company. Alan Kay, who is a pioneering scientist who worked on user interface and object-oriented programming, once said that people who are really serious about software must develop their own hardware. This quote is very often quoted by Steve Jobs. He often uses it to illustrate the thinking which forms the core of Apple. Android has been greatly successful at the growing market share but this has come at a cost.

Though, Google does not report the revenue and profits generated by Android separately in its financial statements but they are definitely over-shadowed by what Apple has reported. Will Google be able to emulate the integration of software and hardware with a holistic approach, is the big question. It is evident that there is no chance as Motorola, which is a household brand has struggled in the past years and has suffered falling revenues. In the recent years it has not come up with anything revolutionary since the best selling Razr phone in 2005. There is no past record of the company which suggests that the company has the potential to come up with something new which Google desperately needs to emulate the profits generated by the iPhone.