Google may pick its own to control Motorola

New leaks suggest Google may appoint one of its own to control Motorola. A trio of Bloomberg sources understood that Dennis Woodside, who was already helping with the Google-Motorola integration, would replace Motorola's current CEO Sanjay Jha. Both Google and Motorola candidates had been on the table, one said, such as Motorola Senior VP Christy Wyatt.

Neither side would comment, and both said they were focused on getting the deal closed. With key approvals from both the US Department of Justice and the European Union in place, however, Google may be preparing for integration now that it's likely to succeed.

If a Google executive is chosen, it could lead to a significantly different approach to Motorola and a less autonomous one than Google implied at first. Chairman Eric Schmidt said earlier that hardware was a factor and may see Google dictate some of Motorola's strategy.

Ousting Jha might also indicate a frustration with Motorola's existing strategy. While credited with partly recovering Motorola through the near-wholesale switch to Android, he has been less successful in the past year. An insistence that Motorola "differentiate" with custom layers and special apps has so far resulted in few new customers but months-long waits for updates. Motorola's hoped-for repeat of the original Droid's success with tablets like the Xoom never bore fruit, as it shipped one million all year, nearly half of which came only in the launch quarter.

Many have suggested that a Google-owned Motorola would become the official Nexus phone supplier, producing only stock Android devices and getting an advantage over other Android partners in features and updates.

By Electronista Staff

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