Google’s bid to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion is set to gain regulatory approval as soon as next week, multiple reports claim. Google announced last summer that it intended to purchase the struggling smartphone and set-top box maker for $40 per share, and CEO Larry Page explained that Motorola’s patent portfolio was a key draw for the company. Google’s Android partners had fallen under attack from patent predators such as Apple and Microsoft, and the ability to spread Motorola’s patents around as needed could be the only way to save Android. As recent events in Germany have shown, Motorola’s patents could indeed be Android’s best bet. While some regulators apparently remain unconvinced that Google intends to license Motorola’s patents on fair terms, The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is still on track to gain approval from the Justice Department as early as next week.

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Nikesh Arora, Google’s SVP and Chief Business Officer, will run Motorola once the Google acquisition closes later this year, according to rumor published by Business Insider. Arora ran the company’s international business for Eric Schmidt, taking over the global business after the former CEO stepped down. Arora has reportedly been “agitating” for a CEO position and was included on a short list of candidates to head Yahoo. It is possible, however, that a promised CEO slot at Motorola could have prompted Arora to continue with Google. The rumor further notes that Dennis Woodside, Google’s current head of U.S. sales, will take over Arora’s current position.

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Twitter finally appears to be preparing a new wave of attacks on the malicious spammers that have overrun the popular social network during the past year. Web security firm Dasient on Monday announced that it has been acquired by Twitter. ”Since its inception, Dasient has been focused on solving web-scale security problems involving malware and other types of online abuse,” the firm noted in a blog post. “In 2009, Dasient launched its web anti-malware platform, capable of scanning URLs and websites for the presence of harmful content. In 2010, Dasient launched the industry’s first anti-malvertising service to protect ad networks and publishers from the scourge of malicious ads. Over the last year, we have been very active in securing the ads and content of the some of the industry’s largest ad networks and web sites.” The firm is seen as playing a large role in securing new self-service advertising efforts Twitter is preparing to roll out in the near future. A secondary benefit to end users, however, is that the link-spam currently plaguing members of the social network may be quelled as part of Twitter’s efforts with Dasient technology.

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The European Union will decide on February 13th whether or not to give its blessing to Google’s planned purchase of Motorola Mobility. Google recently provided European courts with more information in support of the merger, Reuters said. The European Union suspended its review of the merger on December 12th pending Google’s submission of documents that are considered “essential to its evaluation of the transaction.” Google announced on August 15th its intentions to purchase Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion and said the purchase will bolster its patent portfolio and help it defend its Android partners against competitors such as Apple and Microsoft.

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After the company’s failed acquisition of T-Mobile, AT&T is said to be in dire need of additional wireless spectrum and may be looking at Dish Network, the second-largest satellite-television provider in the United States. “AT&T wants to get more spectrum,” said Recon Analytics Roger Entner in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. “They are a year behind Verizon in the LTE race. Dish would undoubtedly be a good combination and it would solve a lot of AT&T’s problems.” Dish acquired spectrum from the bankruptcies of DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks. President and CEO Joe Clayton said the company is open to future acquisitions, and with airwaves limited, Dish has become a valuable target. AT&T may now be looking to pay the highest premium in more than a decade to acquire the satellite TV provider, according to Bloomberg. At a reported $50 a share, AT&T would have to pay a 77% premium for Dish, the highest in an acquisition greater than $5 billion by a telecommunications company since 2000. AT&T and Dish Network declined to comment.

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Research In Motion is currently weighing every single option it can think of in an effort to reverse a negative trend that is approaching a boiling point for investors. Reports that RIM is currently in talks to license its software to other vendors are accurate according to our trusted sources, though we have been told that RIM is most likely leaning toward an outright sale of one or more divisions, or even the whole company. The front runner, we have been told by a trusted source with knowledge of the situation, is Samsung, which might be interested in RIM for a number of reasons.

One of the biggest assets RIM has is BlackBerry Messenger, and it would be a smart way for Samsung to differentiate itself inside the Android ecosystem. HTC has its Sense suite and it recently bought into Beats by Dr. Dre. Samsung could buy RIM, or a part of the company, and integrate not only BBM but also several other enterprise features into Android to make its devices an even bigger threat to competitors. This could also help Samsung better differentiate itself on the software and OS level, pulling more control into its hands and away from Google.

We have heard that Jim Balsillie is actively meeting with almost every company that might be interested in either a part or all of RIM, in addition to having talks about licensing. “Jim is going hard after Samsung,” said a source with knowledge of the negotiations. One of the reasons no deal has been struck, however, is that RIM’s co-CEOs are asking for way too much.

We have heard the company is looking for more than $10 billion for a full sale, likely somewhere in the $12 billion to $15 billion range, or between approximately $22.90 and $28.60 per share. RIM’s market capitalization currently sits at about $8.5 billion, though several analysts think that even $8.5 billion is more than an interested party would consider bidding at the moment.

Samsung declined to comment and a spokesperson for RIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s certainly an interesting time at Research In Motion, and we’ll have much more on RIM in the coming days.

UPDATE: In a statement provided to Reuters Wednesday evening, a Samsung spokesman said the company is not interested in an outright purchase of Research In Motion. The spokesman did not address reports that Samsung is considering licensing RIM’s software, however, or purchasing a portion of RIM’s assets.

Nokia has acquired Oslo, Norway-based cell phone operating system developer Smarterphone AS as it prepares to launch a reinvigorated attack on emerging markets. The transaction was completed in November 2011 according to major investor Ferd Capital, and the terms of the deal were not disclosed. Smarterphone AS has built a proprietary operating system that is designed to provide “highly advanced functionality on very moderate hardware.” While Nokia’s smartphone lineup is now powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, Smarterphone’s feature phone platform is seemingly well aligned with Nokia’s recent work on a secret platform that will bring enhanced capabilities to low-end hardware. BGR exclusively reported details surrounding the secret OS last September and again in October, though it is unclear whether the Finnish vendor plans to integrate Smarterphone’s platform with its own OS, or if the new platform will replace the software that Nokia had in development. Ferd Capital’s full press release follows below.

Ferd Capital sells Smarterphone AS to Nokia

05.01.2012

Ferd Capital has sold its portfolio company Smarterphone AS (Formerly Kvaleberg AS) to Nokia Corporation (OMX: NOK1V, NYSE:NOK, FWB: NOA3), the world’s leading producer of mobile phones. The transaction was completed in November 2011.

Smarterphone is based in Oslo, Norway and delivers an operating system for the feature phone segment of mobile handsets. The software makes it possible to deliver a user experience similar to smart phones on affordable hardware, and allows unique flexibility for tailoring handset software to different markets. Ferd Capital invested in the company in 2007 and has invested a total of 6,5 MEUR in the company.

“Egil Kvaleberg is a world class software architect and founder. His internationally recruited and unique team situated in Oslo has created an operating system for lower end mobile phone that provides highly advanced functionality on very moderate hardware” says Annar Bohn, Investment manager in Ferd Capital. “Our belief in the team, technology and the long term market for feature phones remains firm, and we believe the company has now found a fantastic new home with Nokia”, he continues.

“Ferd Capital is an active Nordic investor in both the venture and buy-out segments of private equity and see continued strong opportunities within both segments” says Bjørn Erik Reinseth, Partner in Ferd Capital. “Large international players acquiring Norwegian technology companies is a strong recognition and a good foundation for future innovation and growth “, continues Reinseth.

In addition to Ferd Capital, The company was also financed by Innovation Norway, Haavard Nord (Trolltech founder) and Lars Øberg. Carnegie acted as advisor to the selling shareholders.

Poor sales of the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 may have prompted Nokia to resume acquisition talks with Microsoft during November, according to a recent Forbes interview with influential Russian tech blogger Eldar Murtazin. Rumors that Nokia was considering selling off its smartphone business to Microsoft first surfaced in June but were quickly shot down by both companies. Murtazin said, however, that the talks resumed again this past November and that it’s possible Nokia could be interested in selling its smartphone business to Microsoft and then focusing on delivering its next-generation feature phones in emerging markets and elsewhere. Nokia on Thursday denied all speculation surrounding the rumored potential deal. Murtazin also claims that Nokia only sold 2,000 Lumia devices in Russia during its first two weeks of availability.

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2011 was a wild, wild year to follow the technology industry. AT&T failed to buy T-Mobile USA, things got rough for RIM and Apple and Samsung fought legal battles all over the world. Still, one of the biggest stories of the year began when Google announced in August that it planned to purchase Motorola Mobility, a member of the open handset alliance, for $12.5 billion. Pundits immediately needed to know one thing: what did Google’s other Android partners think? Surprisingly, HTC, Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson all voiced support for the acquisition. But why? At first it appeared that Google just wanted to control the entire Android experience, from software to hardware, but CEO Larry Page soon put a second piece of the puzzle into place: the acquisition could offer Android partners a safe haven against litigation from Apple and Microsoft.

Page explained in detail that Google needed Motorola Mobility’s patents in order to protect itself and its Android partners from patent predators like Apple and Microsoft. Google’s Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond had accused the companies of trying to strangle the success of Android by creating patent lawsuits instead of truly innovating and competing in the smartphone market. While many would argue that Microsoft and Apple are both innovative companies, Drummond had a point. Apple currently has 21 patents-in-suit against Motorola Mobility and Microsoft has already strong armed major Android players, including HTC and Samsung, into patent licensing deals. With Motorola Mobility’s patents under its wing, Google could finally have some firepower of its own in court. But can Google really protect Android by purchasing Motorola Mobility? At least one expert has suggested the company might be buying a lemon.

David Martin, CEO of patent consulting firm M-Cam, argued that Motorola Mobility already sold off all of its valuable patents. “What they bought is crap, because at the end of the day Motorola sold off its good assets,” Martin told Bloomberg in an interview. “Back in the early years, Motorola sold off some MPEG patents to GE in a securitization deal. After that, they took a bunch of the Freescale patents and sold those off.” Martin suggests that Google may have actually now face more patent lawsuits as a result of the acquisition.

Apple clearly has at least some concerns about the deal, though. In September it asked a judge to halt two lawsuits – one filed by Motorola Mobility and the other by Apple — and said “Apple should not have to face the threat of an injunction based on the claims of a party that now has no standing to bring those claims.” Those lawsuits could sit in limbo for a while. Despite gaining early approval from Motorola Mobility’s shareholders with 99% of shareholders voting in favor of the deal, the purchase is still far from a being done deal.

In September the Department of Justice said that it wanted more information on the deal. “While this means we won’t be closing right away, we’re confident that the DOJ will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile ecosystem will remain highly competitive after this deal closes,” Google senior vice president Dennis Woodside explained. “We’ll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review.” The acquisition also hit a speed bump in Europe when the European Union announced that it was suspending its investigation of the acquisition entirely until more information is made available.

So what’s next for the Google/Motorola partnership? The latest rumors suggest that Google has plans to market its own Nexus-branded tablet, and the device could land on store shelves in mid-2012. Unfortunately, while Google’s partners may have patent protection, the new tablet could cannibalize sales of their slates. Rumors suggest that the Nexus tablet will run a new version of Android that will, initially, only be available on the Google’s device. That means consumers could gravitate to the newer software available on the Nexus as opposed to older builds available on tablets from other vendors.

Will Google’s planned acquisition gain government approval? Does it have a tablet up its sleeves? If it does complete the acquisition, will Google will come to bat for Barnes & Noble, which is currently the target of a Microsoft patent lawsuit, or help defend Amazon’s Android-powered Kindle Fire? We’ll certainly find the answers to those questions and more during the next 12 months, which will no doubt prove to be just as exciting as the past 12.

Following the FCC’s approval last week, AT&T announced Tuesday that it has finalized its acquisition of Qualcomm’s 700MHz spectrum licenses. The spectrum, which was previously used for Qualcomm’s FLO TV product, covers more than 300 million United States residents. AT&T said it paid Qualcomm approximately $1.9 billion in the deal. “This spectrum will help AT&T continue to deliver a world-class mobile broadband experience to our customers,” said AT&T SVP-Federal Regulatory Bob Quinn explained recently. AT&T’s full press release follows after the break.

AT&T Completes Purchase of Wireless Spectrum from Qualcomm
Dallas, Texas December 27, 2011

AT&T* announced today that it has completed its acquisition of spectrum from Qualcomm. AT&T purchased 700 MHz spectrum licenses covering more than 300 million people for approximately $1.9 billion.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

AT&T made headlines in March of this year when it announced plans to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion. Here we are nine months later and the deal is dead in the water, but there was a huge game of tug-of-war going on all year between AT&T, policy makers, the government and AT&T’s competitors. There were points when it seemed that the merger was bound for approval, and others where it seemed fairly certain that the government would reject AT&T’s application. The only thing we knew for sure is that this deal, if approved, would change the wireless landscape in the U.S. forever. Read on for more.

AT&T’s announcement to acquire T-Mobile USA was almost immediately met with strong resistance from its competitors, Sprint in particular. While Verizon Wireless supported the deal, Sprint and several regional carriers voiced strong opposition. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said the merger would “stifle innovation” and would leave Verizon Wireless and AT&T controlling 97% of the U.S. wireless market. AT&T Mobility boss Ralph de la Vega, however, argued that the merger would address spectrum shortage concerns in the United States and would help deliver mobile broadband to more people in areas without wireless service. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson also said the merger would result in “net job creation.”

Despite the resistance from others, AT&T’s General Counsel Wayne Watts said in June that the merger was on schedule for approval in March of 2012. Less than a month later, however, the tide began to turn against AT&T when Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee said “I have concluded that this acquisition, if permitted to proceed, would likely cause substantial harm to competition and consumers, would be contrary to antitrust law and not in the public interest, and therefore should be blocked by your agencies.” That was just the start of the government’s opposition, and AT&T soon began to face much more serious problems.

In August, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it planned to review AT&T’s panned $1.925 billion acquisition of Qualcomm’s FLO TV lower 700MHz frequency band spectrum at the same time as the company’s planned T-Mobile merger. This no doubt highlighted the government’s concerns that AT&T might control too much wireless spectrum if it was allowed to purchase both T-Mobile USA and Qualcomm’s spectrum.

Things really started to heat up in August.

The Justice Department, which had been reviewing the merger for several months, decided to sue AT&T in an effort to block the acquisition in late August. The U.S. government wasn’t just worried that AT&T’s merger would create a duopoly, however. It also feared that allowing AT&T to purchase T-Mobile could result in job cuts, not job creation. AT&T addressed both concerns by promising to bring back 5,000 call center jobs from overseas, and rumors suggested the carrier was considering to sell off as much as $8 billion in assets to other companies. The FCC, however, said AT&T hadn’t ever proved how it planned to create new jobs, even though unions such as the Communications Workers of America argued the merger could create as many as 96,000 additional jobs in the United States.

It became clear later in the year that the merger was in dire straits when AT&T decided to pull its FCC application to purchase T-Mobile altogether, to instead focus on its lawsuit with the Justice Department. Should the carrier have won the lawsuit with the DoJ, it would have no doubt used the ruling as ammo in its bid to gain the FCC’s approval in a future application. Unfortunately, the merger was already on life support by this point.

The FCC’s concerns were aired out in late November when the agency released preliminary thoughts on the merger to the public, which suggested the merger was not going to go through. AT&T argued that blocking the deal would increase prices across the industry, but it was already too late for arguments. Three days later, AT&T asked the court to delay its suit with the Department of Justice. The DoJ was clearly on the same page; it also asked the court to toss or delay the lawsuit, and said that there was no need for a case since AT&T no longer had an active application filed to purchase T-Mobile USA. A judge quickly approved both requests for a stay, but that delay quickly became irrelevant.

On December 19th, AT&T announced that it was canceling its plans to acquire T-Mobile USA. As a result, it paid Deutsche Telekom $3 billion as part of a promised breakup fee and provided T-Mobile USA with AWS spectrum and a 3G roaming agreement. All was not lost, however. The FCC had promised to review AT&T’s planned purchase of Qualcomm’s spectrum at the same time as the merger, and as a result of AT&T pulling out of the deal, granted AT&T its blessing to purchase the added spectrum.

AT&T’s failed acquisition of T-Mobile USA certainly took up the better part of this year, and it was one of the more compelling stories to follow closely. 2012 will be a year to watch T-Mobile USA, as it struggles to hold on to fleeing contract customers and remain competitive with AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, all of which have plans for faster nationwide 4G LTE networks.

Samsung will purchase Sony’s 50% share of S-LCD, a joint venture created by both companies in 2004, for $939.6 million. Both companies will continue to cooperate on the development of new LCD panel technology, however, and Sony says it hopes to “secure a flexible and steady supply” of LCD panels from Samsung moving forward. “With whole ownership of S-LCD, Samsung anticipates heightened flexibility, speed and efficiency in both panel production and business operations,” Samsung said in the statement. Samsung expects the purchase to be finalized by the end of January 2012 pending approval from regulatory authorities. The full press release follows after the break.

Sony and Samsung Shift to New LCD Panel Business Alliance
•Samsung to acquire all of Sony’s shares of S-LCD, making the joint venture its wholly-owned subsidiary
•Sony and Samsung enter into a strategic agreement for supply and purchase of LCD panels.

Tokyo, Japan - Sony Corporation (“Sony”) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (“Samsung”) today announced that the two companies have signed agreements to transition the current business relationship with respect to LCD panels.

Under the agreement, Samsung will acquire all of Sony’s shares of S-LCD Corporation (“S-LCD”), the two companies’ LCD panel manufacturing joint venture, making S-LCD a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung. In consideration for the share transfer, cash consideration of approximately KRW 1.08 trillion^* will be paid to Sony by Samsung. Concurrently, the two companies have entered into a new strategic agreement for the supply and purchase of LCD panels with a goal of enhancing the competitiveness of both companies. The agreement also allows Sony and Samsung to continue cooperative engineering efforts focused on LCD panel technology.

For Sony, this transaction will enable it to monetize its shares in S-LCD and aims to secure a flexible and steady supply of LCD panels from Samsung, based on market prices and without the responsibility and costs of operating a manufacturing facility. With whole ownership of S-LCD, Samsung anticipates heightened flexibility, speed and efficiency in both panel production and business operations.

Established in April 2004, S-LCD has continued to deliver advanced and cost-competitive LCD panels to both of its parent companies, contributing to the expansion of the respective parties’ TV businesses, and the large-sized LCD TV market overall. However, LCD panel and TV market conditions have now changed. In order to respond to such challenging conditions and to strengthen their respective market competitiveness, the two companies have agreed to shift to a new LCD panel business alliance.

The share transfer and payment are targeted to close by the end of January 2012, subject to necessary approvals from regulatory authorities.

As a result of this transaction, a non-cash impairment loss of approximately JPY 66 billion is expected to be incurred by Sony in the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, due to the reevaluation of its S-LCD shares. This loss includes an impact from the fluctuation of exchange rate. Despite this one-time loss, Sony estimates that the transaction will result in substantial savings on and after January 1, 2012 in respect of costs associated with its procurement of LCD panels. The current estimate of the yearly savings in respect of such costs is approximately JPY 50 billion, compared to LCD panel procurement costs estimated for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. Neither the one-time loss nor the estimated cost savings were included in Sony’s forecast of consolidated financial results for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, announced on November 2, 2011. Sony is currently reevaluating this forecast, taking into account this transaction and other factors that might affect its full year FY2011 consolidated financial results forecast.

Facts about S-LCD

Established

:April 26, 2004

Capital

:KRW 3.3 Trillion

(Samsung Electronics: 50% plus 1 share, Sony: 50% minus 1 share)

 

Representative

:Donggun Park, CEO

Location

:Tangjeong, Chung Cheong Nam-Do, South Korea

Production Items

:7th and 8th generation Amorphous TFT LCD

*Note: The final amount of such payment will be determined based on S-LCD’s financial statements as of the end of December 2011.

News broke earlier this week that Apple has acquired Israel-based fabless flash memory firm Anobit for as much as $400 million according to TheMarker, adding another leading chip maker to the company’s portfolio. Anobit’s NAND flash memory is already used in Apple products including the iPhone and iPad, and the firm’s technology is said to offer several advantages over that of its rivals. As DigiTimes pointed out in a recent report, the move also means Anobit’s other clients are now forced to look elsewhere as Apple becomes the exclusive owner of Anobit’s chip technology. Major players including Hynix and Micron were Anobit partners in the past, taking advantage of the company’s proprietary technology that improves the performance and lifespan of its flash memory products. Hynix, Micron and others are now reportedly looking to Taiwan-based companies including Phison Electronics and Silicon Motion Technology following the acquisition. Direct gains from Apple’s Anobit buy include the company’s technology and talent, but another advantage over rivals now emerges as a clear secondary benefit — smartphone vendors that used NAND flash memory chips made by soon-to-be former Anobit clients will no longer be able to utilize Anobit’s class-leading technology.

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Now that its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 billion has been put to bed by strong opposition, AT&T has to look elsewhere in an effort to find spectrum that will accommodate the carrier’s ever-growing subscriber base while it transitions to LTE. The carrier is clearly facing an uphill battle but it took a sizable step forward on Thursday evening when the Federal Communications Commission granted approval to AT&T’s proposed acquisition of 700MHz spectrum licenses from Qualcomm. ”This spectrum will help AT&T continue to deliver a world-class mobile broadband experience to our customers,” said AT&T SVP-Federal Regulatory Bob Quinn. AT&T will pay Qualcomm approximately $1.9 billion when the deal closes in the next few days, and the licenses AT&T gains cover more than 300 million people in the United States. AT&T’s press release follows below.

AT&T Receives Regulatory Approval for Purchase of Wireless Spectrum from Qualcomm

Dallas, Texas, December 22, 2011

 

AT&T* announced today that it has received all required regulatory approvals for AT&T’s acquisition of spectrum from Qualcomm. AT&T is purchasing 700 MHz spectrum licenses covering more than 300 million people for approximately $1.9 billion.

“This spectrum will help AT&T continue to deliver a world-class mobile broadband experience to our customers,” said Bob Quinn, senior vice president-Federal Regulatory, AT&T. “We appreciate the FCC Chairman, the Commissioners and their staff for completing its review before the holidays.

“As spectrum is the lifeblood of the U.S. wireless industry, we are pleased that the FCC did not reduce the spectrum screen, however, we continue to believe any changes to the process by which it is allocated should be subject to open and transparent public discussion and clear to everyone with an interest in ensuring the health of our industry.”

The companies expect to close the transaction in the coming days.

Research In Motion reportedly cut short takeover talks with Amazon and other companies, preferring to instead attempt to solve its own financial woes. Reuters broke news of the discussions Tuesday evening. Amazon allegedly hired an investment bank to help guide discussions with the BlackBerry maker, but it’s unclear how far along the talks got before RIM turned the retail giant away. Sources speaking to Reuters said RIM is not currently interested in a sale or a joint venture and would instead prefer to license its technology. ”Selling the company or an economic joint venture is probably not in the cards right now,” the anonymous source told Reuters. “Until you stabilize the platform, people are going to be very nervous about spending $10 billion or more.” Read on for more.

Several analysts have suggested that RIM needs to change its leadership to turn the ship around. Jaguar Financial Corporation, which holds 5% of RIM’s stock, asked the company to consider a sale last week and called on directors to “seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost.” While RIM’s global subscriber based continued to grow during the third quarter, the company has lost market share in the United States. Reuters also said the company’s market value has slid 77% to $6.8 billion over the past year.

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