The US Department of Justice has sent Google a request for additional information as part of their scrutiny of the search giant’s proposed purchase of Motorola Mobility.
As with any deal of this magnitude, the DOJ must conduct an investigation before it can be finalized. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission may have a say in the matter.
Google Senior Vice President David Drummond announced the DOJ request on the company’s Public Policy blog, writing, “Today we received what is called a “second request,” which means that the DOJ is asking for more information so that they can continue to review the deal.”
He added that he doesn’t believe there is any reason to believe the Justice Department will not approve the sale.
However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be additional hurdles to clear before everything is said and done. At a US Senate antitrust hearing last week Google’s Erich Schmidt faced hostile legislators who accused Google of anticompetitive behavior.
Even though the hearing was focused on their search business, more than one Senator intimated Google uses the Android OS primarily to further their dominance.
With national elections for the US presidency and more than half of all legislators coming up next year, political pressure and grandstanding could easily lead to significant delays.
Result for: motorola
According to Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette, Motorola Atrix and Xoom sales “have been disappointing.”
While shipments remain decent, sell-through of the devices are very low, with the Atrix sales specifically being “well below forecast.”
The analyst says the Atrix has been hurt by the cheap prices of the Apple 3GS ($49) and the HTC Inspire ($99). The Atrix, on the other hand, sells for $200 with contract.
Downgrading the company’s revenue forecast from $13.7 billion to $12.2 billion, Faucette also warned investors that the company will need to “quickly adjust and refresh its product portfolio” if it wishes to remain relevant.
Neither Motorola nor market leader Apple have revealed the sales figures on their latest tablets, yet.
Result for: motorola
Droid Life has posted a leaked ad from Staples which shows the Wi-Fi-only model of the Motorola Xoom coming on March 27th.
The tablet will have a retail price of $600.
At the leaked price, the Xoom will sell for $100 more than the cheapest iPad 2, which has half the onboard storage at 16GB.
The launch of the Wi-Fi model is most notable as buyers will not be locked down into an expensive Verizon contract if they want to try out the Honeycomb tablet.
March 27th has not been confirmed by Motorola, or anyone else.
