Category Archives: Underneath the Radar

Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

Motorola was the coolest phone on the planet back a decade or so ago. The “brick” phone was a marvel of modern technology and marked you as a superstar. I saw my first one back in the ‘80’s, complete with a monstrous battery pack. I owned the fat brick and then the slimmer brick and was considered cool and groovy, as indeed I was. Upwardly mobile, I had power breakfasts where I prayed for the phone to ring so I could pose.

When Motorola came out with the “flip” phone, and I could be cool, groovy, and Captain Kirk I couldn’t be happier. When the flip phone diminished in size I was the first to have one in West Perth, despite the obvious problem of posing with such a small phone.

Nokia then came on with their myriad of models, speaking to the younger set with style, elegance, and price performance.

Suddenly, appearing from stage left was Steve Jobs, with the phone that changed the world forever. You see, what we want, but didn’t know we wanted it until we became tired of the endless fiddle to tailor our phones by ring, picture, and music, was the ability to personalise our phone easily. As yet, not one of the companies has come out with the simple idea of plugging your phone in to a PC, and with a click of a mouse button, back up, share, add ring tones, text, MMS, wallpaper-all the things we CAN do with most phones, but only after a really big fiddle. Then drop it and try to back up the lot successfully to your replacement phone. Oh yes, it CAN be done, but have you managed it with a few clicks? Not me.

Google Press Release –

“MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

“Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

The rest of it is the usual blah blah from the Gods, saying nothing at all.

Motorola in its day had the most powerful team of software developers, deployed all over the world, with some fantastic ideas that they could never quite get to market. Ditto Nokia but they weren’t as fat and bloated in the executive area as Motorola was-and it killed them. Nokia, on the other hand achieved world dominance, and made the perfect phone in the 6310i, which marked their nadir.

We all love to hate market leaders. The small spark of independence grows impatient with being told things like how much I should pay for apps, how we can’t share this or do that or use Adobe. Android intends to beak the model of I phone dominance and good luck to them too. Google don’t know what they are going to do with Motorola, but then they rarely do know what they are planning to do, and wouldn’t tell you if they did because it would undermine their Importance.

Android still, to a large part, nestles on the sweaty bosoms of the geek and tech community, who love to get their sticky fingers in and jail break it (bless ‘em, to a large extent its open source anyway, but don’t tell them). It’s less expensive than the Iphone, and a little more “home boy”, with a sprig of Anarchy.

So, Google, show us your wuzzer. I want my Google phone to work with the galaxy of Google stuff. I want BIG BUTTONS because, like der, most of us baby boomers need glasses. . Give me the option. Give my nephew the option to have a zillion tiny icons on his screen, and the ability to kill Demons with Mohammed in Malaga. I want to know how much charge, money I have spent, and where my wife is so I can um greet her, and where the hell I left my car in that stupid car park?

I want to be cool and groovy again when I do find my car. Oh, by the way, make a phone that doesn’t need a protective cover, and spray on self cleaning nanites. Sorted?

If memory serves, ABB was short for Asea Brown Boveri, which isn’t a hot winter broth. They are an electrical power control flashy company and have been around since 1988, and despite being based in Zurich, have done very well. (Research note-ask the editor about confiscated duty-free in Zurich later)

Engine Ears

Peter Ustinov once stated that “Assets” are small female donkeys. Therefore Asset management software designed by MINCOM in Brisbane, Australia may well be a different type of creature, and thus a takeover target for ABB, which happened in May 2011 for many millions of dollars.  Well done to the founders of Mincom, who sold in 2007 to Francisco Partners for $315 Million dollars.  Its all about the large pulsing vein that is the mining industry in Australia-the ROW (rest-of-world, an American term I’ll adopt here) wants a part of our assets, you see, because we have very nice rocks here.  How the Swiss integrate MINCOM with Ventyx will be aswers with, thank heavens, many thousands of lines of code by some busy programmers.

Locally Peter Christie (no relation) is no donkey as MINCOM’s Business Development manager and loves Swiss Chocolate.

Independent contractors the essential handbook November 2010Independent contracts made simple November 2010In the authors lifetime at least two major wars have been fought over what was considered “the communist menace”. Right or wrong, win or lose, many thousands of Australian servicemen died for the right to “be free”. This includes the freedom to associate, religious freedom, and the freedom to be pretty much who you want to be. You can be a bricklayer, a lawyer, a banker, or you can be self-employed-currently pretty much anything including unemployed. In most cases you are protected by law from exploitation and inappropriate remuneration or what is called exploitation. If you want to trade freely as your own entity-say sub-contract, however, you come into the sights of the Australian Government, and in particular the Australian Tax Office, who are given the powers to strip you of your assets and dignity.

The Federal Government loathes subcontractors, and has treated subbies with complete disdain for as long as the author has been in the employment game-some twenty years. It is understood that there is a need for a part-time work force. It is understood that the lower socio-economic tier of labourers quite frequently require protection from exploitation-we get that. Clear, concise, precise and accessible laws are actually in place to protect Bob the Builder. The unions, bless their belligerent buttocks, are to a large part responsible for this When professional services comes into play they leave the Unions behind. Don’t need ‘em. Don’t like ‘em. Don’t want ‘em. Are we cool with that? Computer says no. The ICT industry has resisted Unionism for as long as it has existed, mostly due to the three “D’s”. Sensing a weakness in the force, the Feds have sought to penalise the ICT industry. Why? Is it because the average ICT worker earns more? Doesn’t wear blue? Seems to be too blithely happy? Just the vibe?

Grandad did it for Oz

For whatever reason there is not a clear cut, safe method of sub contracting. The thin ice that is current subcontract law shifts with the mood of the ATO. It’s deliberately thin, as evinced by the “Personal Services Income Test” for sole traders, which was cobbled together by someone very fond of cryptic crosswords and multisyllabic obfuscation.

To maintain subcontractors in the firing line they have no compulsion to superannuate like everyone else. There’s no easy way of paying tax. The state governments are generally cool with subcontracting, save for the idiotic state payroll tax grab. In this one case only they treat the subbies as employees.

Is it a coincidence that Australia is the only western democracy with no bill of rights?

Wake up Australia-we need a flexible workforce, and an easy way to do that legally. It’s good for our careers and our pockets. We learn so much more through flexibility and the clients don’t need us full time-once the implementation is over we skedaddle. Many of our clients can’t afford IBM and the big guns. Most subcontractors genuinely want to pay tax-they are not all stupid, so don’t treat the ICT professional world like they are nascent criminals. Get annoyed-I am!

Update here is a decision tool from the ATO. Ta.

Ølensvåg, Norway – 30 November 2010, Omega AS acquired all of the shares in Omniware AS. The transaction includes all subsidiaries of Omniware AS: Omniware Australia Pty Ltd; Omniware America Ltd; and Omniware UK Ltd. Proudly smiling as an unshaven example of Australian manhood, Shane Butt, recently Chief Technology Officer is pictured here without a coat despite the perpetual freeze that is Norway. What a guy ! Apparently Omega is in to oil and gas, project staff, and stuff like that. Just like Shane himself, they are “big enough to deliver, and small enough to care.”

Hang on….Santa’s from Norway, isn’t he ?

ASG has expanded its footprint in the yummy world of SAP with the acquisition of SAP consulting and services provider Progress Pacific. Progress, with 40 staff across Sydney and Melbourne, has a customer list including IAG, ING, PepsiCo and Smiths. The acquisition is worth up to $12 million and is based on a multiple of five times earnings before interest and tax for the 2011 and 2012 years. ASG general manager sales and delivery, Murray Rosa said the acquisition of Progress Pacific would expand the company’s east coast footprint as well as complement the company’s other recent acquisitions, notably Courtland Business Solutions. ASG, traditionally an Oracle house, is intending to cover all areas of the enterprise space-the big dollars-and SAP dominate much of the mining industry. Now Murray, about getting the staff……

Murray ties up some new initiatives

In the words of the Great Monty Python “Here comes another one!”-yes minister, if you’re not board with the number of current government bodies, we have, in full living grey, the Australian Information Commissioner, under the Australian Information Commissioners act 2010. Quite a year. The job is (wading to section 7) “the collection, use, disclosure, management, administration or storage of, or accessibility to, information held by the Government”. There is also a lot of gobbledygook about the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and something to do with things that may be changed. Or not. To be perfectly clear-

“10  Functions and powers of the Information Commissioner

(1)  The Information Commissioner has the following functions:

(a)  the information commissioner functions;

(b)  the freedom of information functions;

(c)  the privacy functions.

(2)  The Information Commissioner has power to do all things necessary or convenient to be done for or in connection with the performance of functions conferred by this section.”

I can’t wait for the movie. If it’s as riveting as the Potato Marketing board rules then we’ll have cool stuff like “you are allowed to plant potatoes, at eight designated times of the year, are restricted to 13 varieties, and must notify it on a daily basis you intend to harvest”.

Quancocrats, an animal similar to a Quokka but less kicked, comprise Government boards. Western Australia alone has more than 1000 (yes, one thousand).-I’m going for the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporations Selection Committee. Hic. I need to find and fund trips for overseas wine writers to visit Australia. I so want this job.

Should we run a poll on whose cobber is going to be the AIC? Let’s see, I think we should pay him (or her) $1.2M per annum. Sounds good? More follows!AICA

Lets take this down to the coffee shop!

Go cat go

Recently I had case to advertise for a creative sort, a marketing specialist-not terribly senior but a great role-possibly the lynch pin for a modest software development firm. The resumes that arrived were not just ordinary, but were banal to say the least. What are we teaching out University students ? Curtin University stands out-you have some serious answering to do, at least to me. The quality and standard of many of the graduates? -Nothing short of abysmal. I stared into the abyss that is the creative future of Australia…hey wake up, get up, get out of the stupor. Its 2010 and the resource base is unimaginably huge by old fart standards-are we overwhelmed ?

Call that a resume ? This is a resume !

NBN Co, Australia’s answer to archaism, has adopted a brilliant new media plan. The previous cunning plans have worked so very well, being

a/ Coming at you from nowhere, with no public discussion or input,

b/ Making it completely unintelligible, and

c/ Pretending you’re an ignorant Luddite if you cant understand a,b, or how much $43 Billion dollars is such a bargain.

The current cunning plan is to make accessible utterly, staggeringly boring media releases, using as much blue as possible. Blue goes towards credibility as we know.NBN Grooves Tasmania three, count ‘em, three communities are connected to the fibre. It got me moving! Click on NBN Grooves if you’re having trouble sleeping.

October saw a miserly 11% take up of NBN in Tasmania-what does that say about it ? The bottom line ? Nobody can tell us why we have an NBN-nobody. All that is said is that it will open up new markets-where ? What will be deployed by whom -and at what cost?