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[DISCUSSION] Google to give 20 percent of Motorola's employees pink slips

I found this rather interesting. A few months ago Google finally closed the deal on its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, replacing the old CEO with its own handpicked successor. Now the company is expediting its plans to consolidate Motorola. In the latest report, the search giant is getting ready to do some major restructuring, which will result in a 20 percent cut (about 4,000 people) of the handset maker’s workforce. This isn’t so much of a surprise as many executives had already hit the exit once the deal was done.
The way this job reduction will playout is Motorola’s operations in Asia and India, as well as its R&D spending in Chicago, Sunnyvale, and Beijing — is getting a drastic cut. Google’s goal is to trim down the fat on such a bloated company; a company that could only turn a profit six months out of the last four years. What makes sense is for Google to stop putting wasted resources into producing lower-end handsets, which is a plan the company intends to carry out. New Motorola boss, Dennis Woodside, told the The New York Times that he’s refocusing the company to concentrate on “a few cellphones instead of dozens.” Again, this isn’t new, we already had an idea that Motorola would refocus and begin to release lesser phones, which is something the old CEO Sanjay Jha uttered earlier this year.
In becoming a much leaner company, Motorola will begin to put more emphasis on things like voice recognition that can determine who is in a room, better cameras, and longer-lasting batteries. All great qualities phone owners love. The NYT report also mentioned how an executive close to situation believed it would be “more difficult” for Google and Motorola to spontaneously collaborate on Android projects.
This irks me, because it makes no sense. Why is it a problem for Google to do its own thing, with its own OS, on its own hardware company? My point is, every single OEM the search giant “partners-up with” has been doing whatever it wants with Android since day one (like throwing crappy skins on top of it). So why would things all of a sudden become “more difficult” with Google’s acquisition of Motorola? OEMs will continue to do whatever they want regardless. What does everyone think of all this?
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Sorry if I'm spamming, just thought you guys would be interested in this also.
Mods, feel free to lock / delete...
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Apex_Strider said:
This irks me, because it makes no sense. Why is it a problem for Google to do its own thing, with its own OS, on its own hardware company? My point is, every single OEM the search giant “partners-up with” has been doing whatever it wants with Android since day one (like throwing crappy skins on top of it). So why would things all of a sudden become “more difficult” with Google’s acquisition of Motorola? OEMs will continue to do whatever they want regardless.
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This is a problem, because Google designs not only the os, but now the hardware too. This can be considered an unfair monopoly. Google has to tread very lightly in how they handle this whole thing.
If done wrong, they could alienate all the other manufactures out there, and we could start seeing them all go back to things like symbian (yuck!).

Google has to keep Android open for at least another 5 years unless they find a loop hole. By that time their will be another OS come along that will catch everyones attention.
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I was reading this morning how it was harder for Motorola to talk to and work witj the Android team at google now. The perceived unfair advantage is being handled very cautiously by Google. Then minutes later another article said the same thing except it was Motorola limiting access. Everyone is too uptight. Make it freakin' work.
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OMG I Work at Motorola India but I've not come across any such things.
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Makes me sad. I have three friends whose parents work for Motorola. I keep bugging them to tell their parents to get ICS on more phones but I think I know more about their parents' jobs than they do themselves

It sucks that they have to cut so many jobs - but a lot of them are in markets where Motorola just flat out doesn't sell anything, so they are completely leaving those markets. Hopefully those people can find jobs quickly (and get nice severance packages), and also hopefully Motorola becomes profitable again very quickly, and their remaining areas get bigger and higher more people.

I'm sure it's much easier to suck with less employees. Now they'll actually have an excuse for it.
Motorola lied and I'm still locked mb865

I totally want Google to dictate to Motorola. A small handful of higher-quality handsets? A slimmer operation?
Come on, Motorola should have done this two or three years ago.
But turning Motorola into, essentially, a Nexus-only producer with some of its traditional branding could quickly make them into the most interesting manufacturer.

Ajfink said:
I totally want Google to dictate to Motorola. A small handful of higher-quality handsets? A slimmer operation?
Come on, Motorola should have done this two or three years ago.
But turning Motorola into, essentially, a Nexus-only producer with some of its traditional branding could quickly make them into the most interesting manufacturer.
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LOL, go a googling... Google is going to turn moto into a lower cost handset maker, not a top end manufacturer... in other words they don't wanna compete with Samsung and the like.
They (motorola), will not make a nexus only device, as of yet NO nexus has EVER been a motorola device, now the xoom was a "google experience" device, meaning no blur at all.... other than that, you won't see them do a nexus phone, but maybe once or twice if ever... it is rumored that this year moto will make the nexus, but I have heard some rumblings lately that don't sound like that will happen.

jimbridgman said:
LOL, go a googling... Google is going to turn moto into a lower cost handset maker, not a top end manufacturer... in other words they don't wanna compete with Samsung and the like.
They (motorola), will not make a nexus only device, as of yet NO nexus has EVER been a motorola device, now the xoom was a "google experience" device, meaning no blur at all.... other than that, you won't see them do a nexus phone, but maybe once or twice if ever... it is rumored that this year moto will make the nexus, but I have heard some rumblings lately that don't sound like that will happen.
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Google is trying to paint the picture that they have nothing to do with Motorola and that its own separate division because they don't want the other OEM's getting mad at them. They are also saying that Motorola will have to bid for the Nexus program like everybody else... no favoritism! We'll see true thats going to be! Personally I want to see Google get more involved in Motorola, but I don't want them to stop building high end devices... this is the reason I buy Motorola because the hardware is reliable!
This is all similar to the backlash Microsoft has been getting for deciding to building the "Surface" and go into the hardware market. OEM's are mad at them now for this!

big ach said:
This is all similar to the backlash Microsoft has been getting for deciding to building the "Surface" and go into the hardware market. OEM's are mad at them now for this!
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This is exactly what i was going to say!
We are also forgetting the 'other' reason why el goog bought Moto, patents! I really believe the patents thing is true.. as far as Moto not manufacturing top end devices, i dont believe that, but i do believe they will be limited. They wont release a new mobile every now and then instead may be one top dog for each carrier in the year and two for the international market.
In big mobile markets like India. Moto is struggling, their service here is so infamous and the availability of moto products is also an issue here, where there is NO carrier branding moto has to depend on distribution chains and retailers, and they arent doing well in that dept.
Bottom line is Moto will be different from now onwards, these pink slips are just beginning. There are going to be changes, but not drastic IMHO.
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jimbridgman said:
LOL, go a googling... Google is going to turn moto into a lower cost handset maker, not a top end manufacturer... in other words they don't wanna compete with Samsung and the like.
They (motorola), will not make a nexus only device, as of yet NO nexus has EVER been a motorola device, now the xoom was a "google experience" device, meaning no blur at all.... other than that, you won't see them do a nexus phone, but maybe once or twice if ever... it is rumored that this year moto will make the nexus, but I have heard some rumblings lately that don't sound like that will happen.
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You're right - none yet. I'm just -wishing- that Google would take a more prominent role, at least in the direction of making Motorola play in a more Google way (not that Google is always that open themselves).
I can understand Google not wanting to show favoritism, and if for no other reason I'd be fine with official Nexus devices going to Samsung, HTC, et al., but it would be nice if ALL Motorola devices had that "Google experience."

Its confirmed that Motorola India R&D Centre of Bangalore is yet to make an official statement by coming days and it's also been said that It'll lay off a few employees.
Motorola R&D Bangalore,India.
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If the purchase was only (even mostly) for the patents Moto has, which will probably help defending some features of Android (against Apple), then this move is of no surprise. I hope the affected people are compensated well and also hope many of them start new startups in mobile space with that cushion.

[Discussion] Phonebloks - A phone worth keeping...or not?

Hi there xda,
You can also click the picture to get redirected to their website.
I recently found out a nice "wannabe" project called Phonebloks, what's your opinion about that?
I think it's a good thing to promote it on xda too. Feel free to comment about this.​
Or you can access their website > http://www.phonebloks.com/
If the website is down for some reason, you can show your support here > https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/2931-phonebloks
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Now i'll state my opinion:
I believe this is a very good ideea, takes customisation to whole new levels and if it could be packed with an [bold]Android OS[/bold], it would be the whole new level of customisation, both hardware and software on the same platform.
Anyways, i believe this ideea should be promoted, even if we will never see it come to life, the ideea is pretty darn good. In other words, let's spread the word and at least give it a chance to start or become a trend.
There should be considered some serious stuff here. Not too many people would like to carry around a bulky device, it could be customisable from hardware to software, but it should be made a little more slim, maybe this could be done in time, or who knows, there is only an ideea for now, we can speculate here and dream about it and promote it.
Yeah, there could be a few more things to be talked about, but i'm a little tired now, so i'll be around

This is, by far, the greatest innovation for mobile devices in years. Have you seen the rate the video views are going up for their YouTube video? It's amazing that the general public is interested in something like this. As for the bulky form factor, I'd take this bulky, 100 percent customizable phone over every phone on the market to date. This is insane!
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Love it! I would buy one in a heartbeat.
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This definitely looks incredible, and I would buy one if I could. My biggest concern is the price. I can't see something like this being particularly cheap. The kind of engineering and technology that would have to go into this is staggering, and for the amount of time and effort being put into this to make it simple and user friendly, if it were sold at normal phone prices, it would be an incredible risk for the developing company.

Something like this is revolutionary and has been thought of for years. The problem is hasn't come into effect is because it will destroy the market. Manufacturers release new devices every few months. If this was available, there would be no need to buy a whole new device to get the latest and greatest.
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KayxGee1 said:
Something like this is revolutionary and has been thought of for years. The problem is hasn't come into effect is because it will destroy the market. Manufacturers release new devices every few months. If this was available, there would be no need to buy a whole new device to get the latest and greatest.
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Well, considering the bulky form factor, there could not be too much impact on the market because:
- People would like slim phones with bigger or smaller form factors.
- Companies can still get revenue from this project by investing in bloks.
- Price could be a problem.
- Fiability could be a problem.
All in all, the project is good, first of all we should see what happens with it, if it will ever be developed or something like that. Only time will tell

Engineers first day;
Step 1 - Advil
Step 2 - cry
I like the idea. The engineering side of things is going to be quite intense.
I give them my support though

As an engineer, this would be cool. It would also be essentially impossible to create. If the CPU, RAM, and memory were soldered in then it would be much easier, but then the project loses most of its appeal.

This is an incredible idea, I've shared as much as I can without being excessive. I know this most likely will never happen but I've had a few talks with people who hate having phones that being obsolete after a year or two. I'd love to see this produced and would most defiantly support them with their endeavor. :good:

Well, surely there would be a need of some serious engineering, but hey, at least the ideea is good, people can brainstorm on getting it up and running. The ideea is good, people are interested, now, we need companies and engineers to devote to this and we'll see wat happens

KayxGee1 said:
Something like this is revolutionary and has been thought of for years. The problem is hasn't come into effect is because it will destroy the market. Manufacturers release new devices every few months. If this was available, there would be no need to buy a whole new device to get the latest and greatest.
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Click to collapse
And that would be great.
I think people is realising that is worth having something that will last. I'm in photography and the market is just crazy, new cameras every year and so much time needed to get confident with a model that becomes obsolete even if it could work for years.
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[Q] Is our phone already done?

With Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, are we no longer going to receive updates? What's the future look like?

If Lenovo wants to make anything of it, they should be focusing on the updates for the newer phones and keeping the current customer base happy so we don't switch out to another company. Releasing new devices won't do much if people aren't happy with what we already have.
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I can't see them not updating these phones they are moto's flagships why would they not update them. They also have no other phones out that will compete with us at this time.

That's what I thought. I was harassed by a third-party retailer about Motorola not pushing anymore updates before they gave me the phone I kept asking for and they were almost forcing me to get a Samsung phone which I would absolutely HATE. It's like they know what's best for me, Samsungs are overrated and have poor quality anyways... I called BS and had to walk away but it got me wondering, "What if...?" Anyways, I guess they really don't have a reason to drop us so early.

kcipopnevets said:
That's what I thought. I was harassed by a third-party retailer about Motorola not pushing anymore updates before they gave me the phone I kept asking for and they were almost forcing me to get a Samsung phone which I would absolutely HATE. It's like they know what's best for me, Samsungs are overrated and have poor quality anyways... I called BS and had to walk away but it got me wondering, "What if...?" Anyways, I guess they really don't have a reason to drop us so early.
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Yea if they want to make any sort of name for themselves they'll keep the updates coming and keep the existing customer base happy. Im pretty sure the deal hasn't fully gone through yet, so technically Google still owns Motorola for a little bit longer. Someone chime in if I'm wrong.
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Just my 2 cents but I kinda feel like our phones are losing love from not only the suppliers but the public. The devs losing interest cuz well most us on this forum are here cuz we like the exploits and rooting, being harder to accomplish that we see that community is just kinda saying screw it I got better things to do. I love the droid ultra and maxx, and I feel the Samsung line is a chick phone (just a personal feeling don't hate me for that remark) but saying that I also see the galaxy and note are booming with the exploits and possibilities. What if (my conspiracy theorists mode talking here) they wanna junk down the line of moto phones and lock em up tight so that we as consumers with that urge to break and root are only left to spend the extra cash to get Dev models lol
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@jayo Haha, I see Sammie's phones the same way! Anyways, Samsung doesn't try to lock down their phones like Moto has been since the Droid X days. And I think Motorola wants to aim at average consumers so interested devs should have to pay more which is kinda ridiculous since it's easier to produce a vulnerable bootloader. I wish Developer's Edition was available on contract, though. That tag is a huge hit... I'd rather pay it off over time.
Anyways...I thought the hardware was entitled to us? If we brick or screw up our phones, wouldn't that be good since we're spending more?

Why doesn't Google buy a cell phone company?

Ex. Verizon, AT&T...
only thing I can possibly think of is for some reason they'd get into legal trouble because they create the os that most phones in the US run on.
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Oh and sorry if this isn't the place. I couldn't find a more fitting forum.

TheNetwork said:
Ex. Verizon, AT&T...
only thing I can possibly think of is for some reason they'd get into legal trouble because they create the os that most phones in the US run on.
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Oh and sorry if this isn't the place. I couldn't find a more fitting forum.
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currently they have deal with so many mobile phone companies ........ so that they can reach larch users.

TheNetwork said:
Ex. Verizon, AT&T...
only thing I can possibly think of is for some reason they'd get into legal trouble because they create the os that most phones in the US run on.
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Oh and sorry if this isn't the place. I couldn't find a more fitting forum.
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Click to collapse
i think it would fall into the place of what happened when goggle bought Motorola, Everyone (Samsung HTC etc..) thought since they were bought by Google that they were the "Favorite" and Samsung started to make android less android, (good example would be the Samsung galaxy notePRO 12.1) in response Google knew they screwed up and sold Motorola to Lenovo. i think this sorta thing would happen and instead of manufacturing android phones, others would try to get like Bada OS and Firefox OS phones.

Personally, I think Google did not screw up when it bought Motorola. What they are really after is Motorola's "Project Ara," that involves the development of Modular Smartphones, which is seen by many as the future of smartphones. All other assets of Motorola did not interest Google and they sold it to Lenovo, but retained only Project Ara.

av2588 said:
Personally, I think Google did not screw up when it bought Motorola. What they are really after is Motorola's "Project Ara," that involves the development of Modular Smartphones, which is seen by many as the future of smartphones. All other assets of Motorola did not interest Google and they sold it to Lenovo, but retained only Project Ara.
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Click to collapse
I don't think they screwed up either, I think they screwed up with selling Motorola though. Honestly Motorola phones where pretty ugly and Google changed them quite a bit. The moto g was heir most successful/most sold phone they have ever had I wish they could have played around with them some more before selling them to lenovo Motorola was having a bad time and Google just gave them a boost I guess, So nice of them.

av2588 said:
Personally, I think Google did not screw up when it bought Motorola. What they are really after is Motorola's "Project Ara," that involves the development of Modular Smartphones, which is seen by many as the future of smartphones. All other assets of Motorola did not interest Google and they sold it to Lenovo, but retained only Project Ara.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh right modular smartphones... The millisecond those are available I'm dumping whatever phone I have at the time and getting one.
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Google runs on nothing but ads folks. Everything else is just a way to funk around.

Essential up for sale, next phone cancelled

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...hone-maker-essential-is-said-to-consider-sale

shocker

We'll...
Like the stages of grief, I was initially frustrated and upset. After thinking about it for about 3 minutes, just about every possession I own is for sale, for the right price. Go get it Andy!

Kinda sad, was tempted to buy a ph-2. But now I'm happy I'll get a chance to buy a ph-1 when they go on fire sale. It will fit right in with my nextbit Robin.

this was a response from Essential that Android Police received
An official Essential spokesperson responded to our request for comment. Here's what we got:
"We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products."
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Damm! I've been so looking forward to the new phone! I'm sure it would have been a much bigger success.
(another article about it, based on Bloomberg report https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/24/...ncels-phone-development-considers-sale-report )
So do I buy another backup one as there really doesn't seem to be an alternative.

IronRoo said:
Damm! I've been so looking forward to the new phone! I'm sure it would have been a much bigger success.
(another article about it, based on Bloomberg report https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/24/...ncels-phone-development-considers-sale-report )
So do I buy another backup one as there really doesn't seem to be an alternative.
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yeah.. all the phone needs is oled screen and it would be perfect.. though the lcd is very good
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Do you think we'll still get continued support for the PH-1, as getting the security updates quick, and getting updated to the official release of android p?

Thomas Cloutier said:
Do you think we'll still get continued support for the PH-1, as getting the security updates quick, and getting updated to the official release of android p?
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I was just wondering that myself.. let's hope the support continues for years to come. I have no plans to upgrade. Love my PH-1

I would not count on continued support for very long. You can’t hardly get decent long term support from phone companies that stay in business...

Sad day really. Especially the cancellation of the phone. I really believed the second one was going to get it right. I only had two problems with the phone: Low light performance of the cameras and poor signal strength (mostly indoors)
I don't think it would have been hard to improve in those areas for their next phone. He is giving up to easy.
P.S. won't be buying their other products if this is how it's going to go.
Maybe we need a petition started to give him more confidence.

It is sad, the Essential Phone had such promise. But sometimes in business "Promises" won't pay the staff or the bills. I was looking forward to PH-2, but now I am, I can't believe I am saying this, looking at the iPhone X.
I have use Android phones ,Nexis< from the beginning. Nexus left us in favor of the extremely expensive and hamstrung Pixel, I was really hoping Essential would fill that void, the one thing is the universe is constant "Apple" seems to always keep thing consistent.
Damn I need to call my therapist, its just a fuc____g phone...

Oh no. That's bad news. What a beautiful phone and not being continued.
First my wonderful Lumia, now the Essential.... Sometimes you wonder what it takes to break into this market.

oldman_58 said:
It is sad, the Essential Phone had such promise. But sometimes in business "Promises" won't pay the staff or the bills. I was looking forward to PH-2, but now I am, I can't believe I am saying this, looking at the iPhone X.
I have use Android phones ,Nexis< from the beginning. Nexus left us in favor of the extremely expensive and hamstrung Pixel, I was really hoping Essential would fill that void, the one thing is the universe is constant "Apple" seems to always keep thing consistent.
Damn I need to call my therapist, its just a fuc____g phone...
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I have the Essential and iPhone X. When it comes to size I constantly confuse the two of them. The Essential phone was the first Android device that felt like Apple quality to me. Can’t go wrong with either one.
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Damn, that really sux. This was the best phone I ever owned

sam2c said:
Damn, that really sux. This was the best phone I ever owned
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well, good thing for now is that we still own the best phone we ever owned.

derausgewanderte said:
Oh no. That's bad news. What a beautiful phone and not being continued.
First my wonderful Lumia, now the Essential.... Sometimes you wonder what it takes to break into this market.
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You jinxed it!
Don't buy a OnePlus 6 please...
Jk

Bummed on this one for sure. I've been impressed enough with this phone and especially the support to have considered replacing my wife's aging Nexus 5X with the second generation one (assuming the camera was better than the ph-1).
this feels exactly like what happened to me when Google sold Motorola soon after I bought my 2013 Moto X, which is still my all time fav phone. Google was supporting it (we got KitKat FAST) and then BAM the support was yanked out when the company got sold. I was starting to like this phone almost as much.

SHOCKKR said:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...hone-maker-essential-is-said-to-consider-sale
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Rumors.
From Andy:
"We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products."
Where does that say the company is closing or that PH-2 is dead?
The article is from a confidential source.

tech_head said:
Rumors.
From Andy:
"We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products."
Where does that say the company is closing or that PH-2 is dead?
The article is from a confidential source.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cmon dude he posted it as a response to the articles
"we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits."
I think that is pretty clear, unless you're being intentionally obtuse.