The proposed acquisition of the Motorola Mobility company by Google has started a flurry of analysis and speculations about the future of the Android operating system, including whether or not Google can have an open source operating system like Android and also have their own proprietary line of portable computing and communication devices (PCCD). Please note that I use the term PCCD and not cell phone on purpose, since I think that a cell phone is a current product, not a future product.

It seems to me that those who doubt that Google can do both are not very familiar with the software world. To me, having produced many software programs and created product families that were grown from existing product lines, the answer is obvious. There is no reason for Google to modify any of its approaches to the Android environment, if not to guard its IP property more diligently in legal terms. The cell phone has still a considerable run in the market before it becomes obsolete. Just look at the portable PC market: sure it is not growing as much as it used to, but a significant number of units are still sold every day and generating profits. So Android stays as it is for cell phones, and Google generates revenue from its ecosystem just as before the acquisition. In fact it can generate more by selling its own line of Android based cell phones. But if you want to design, develop, and produce the future devices, like a PCCD, you need to be able to make it as well. As Apple has shown, software sells hardware, but the money is in the hardware.

The future, as I see it, is one were Motorola patents are defended more aggressively. Analysts seem to have forgotten that Google has many more resources than Motorola Mobility to engage in legal confrontations. For example, while Apple could realistically plan to drag Motorola Mobility to the brink of bankruptcy through a lengthy legal battle, its chances of doing so with Google are much, much smaller.

It is also clear to Google that the future is in PCCD products. And for those who are wondering what this has to do with EDA just a few words: more product development requiring more EDA products.

I think we will see a proprietary Humanoid operating system from Google with a well defined interface layer that allows both software and hardware "apps" from third parties. It is after all the Apple model extended to provide mobility to a true virtual information based computing environment. And if Larry Page does not know how to do this, I am always happy to help.