Google deal opens consolidation possibilities

Will Google-Motorola trigger further consolidation among smartphone manufacturers? Will the deal force hardware makers such as Samsung, HTC, LG Electronics, Sony Ericsson and the two Chinese smartphone manufacturers, ZTE and Huawei, to reassess their dependence on Google’s Android operating system and consider alternatives such as Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 or Hewlett-Packard’s Web OS? Could the deal spur further vertical integration between hardware makers and operating system vendors?

Of the six main smartphone operating systems available today – Android, Apple iOS, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS, Nokia’s Symbian, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 and HP’s Web OS – four now form their own tightly integrated ecosystems. This model, pioneered by RIM and then perfected by Apple, has some key advantages and some disadvantages. Tight integration between hardware and software enabled RIM to build perhaps the most secure and robust wireless messaging and e-mail-centric devices; it has enabled Apple to produce the clean, simple and seamless interface of the iPhone and to attract huge numbers of software developers to the App Store – now a key strategic advantage for Apple in both the smartphone and tablet PC markets. However, as both RIM and later Nokia with Symbian discovered, tight integration is fine until the operating system is no longer able to keep pace with advances in component hardware, including processors and interfaces, especially touch screens.