A Proxy War

First out of the Gate

With Nortel's auction barely over, Google and Apple are rumored to be circling InterDigital's IP assets in mobile handsets.

Second out of the Gate

Carl Icahn is pushing Motorola Mobility to monetize its own IP portfolio given the current hot market in smart phone. Specifically, he has valued Motorola's IP to be worth around $4bn. Given Nortel's final price of $4.5bn and the fact that Motorola invented the mobile phone industry, it does not seem like an aggressive number.

The Real Question

As strange as it seems to the casual observers, the real issue is the Google Android operating system for mobile handsets. It is the most viable alternative to iPhone today with shipped products. To use a cold war analogy, handset makers such as HTC of Taiwan and Samsung of Korea are the clients who have been fighting a proxy war for Google over their use of Android and Android's potential infringement of existing patents owned by the likes of Apple and Microsoft.

While HTC has been acquiring patents to counter the infringement claims and Samsung has been assiduously building up its own IP portfolio, as the keeper of Android, I cannot help but wonder how Google will shape the conversation. After all, it makes little sense for Google to let a global mobile computing eco-system that will be much bigger than the desktop computing one crumble over a few billion dollar worth of patents.

On this point, a chat between Google and Carl Icahn could be an interesting option.


* InterDigital: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-20/google-said-to-be-among-companies-considering-interdigital-bid.html
* Motorola: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/us-motorola-idUSTRE76K54220110722