During Google’s earnings call yesterday, Page discussed Motorola and mentioned that he has seen some of the company’s upcoming products, saying that he’s “really excited to see the potential there.” He discussed the problems with current hardware, such as short battery life, shattered screens, and phones breaking when users accidentally drop them.

Page notes that these things simply just shouldn’t happen, which means that Motorola’s upcoming devices could come with improvements to these three categories. We’ve heard a lot of rumors about a possible “X Phone,” which is said to currently be in the works over at Motorola, and it’s possible that the phone will come with a type of ruggedness unlike what we’ve seen before.

This means that the X Phone could be classified as a rugged smartphone, but it won’t be bulky and thick like most rugged phones are. Instead, it could come with a toughened exterior along with an unbreakable type of glass for the display, as well as large battery similar to what’s in the DROID RAZR MAXX HD. As far as when we might see a phone like this come to the public, it could be later this year in time for the holiday season, but we’re not counting on that 100% just yet.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Motorola Mobility has started layoffs that will impact about 1200 workers. That number is over 10% of the company’s headcount. The layoffs are part of Motorola Mobilitiy’s effort to return to the black on its quarterly reports.

The Wall Street Journal reports that employees were informed via e-mail this week that the company would be shedding workers. The cuts will impact Motorola Mobility workers in the US, China, and India. A spokesperson for Motorola said that the layoffs were a continuation of reductions announced last summer.

Motorola had previously reduced its headcount by 20% with layoffs that started last August. The company had said at the time it would reduce its headcount by 4000 workers. In Q3 2012 Motorola Mobility posted an operating loss of over $500 million and the company lost over $350 million in Q4 of 2012.

[via Wall Street Journal]

The restructuring will claim over 500 jobs in South Korea. Only the mobile devices segment of Motorola is leaving South Korea, two other business divisions including the Home Business and iDEN go-to-market will remain. So far, the restructuring after Google purchased the mobility portion of Motorola has resulted in 4000 employees losing their jobs and the discontinuation of most of Motorola mobility’s international websites.

Motorola Mobility notes that it began notifying staff in Korea today that it plans to cease most operations within Korea. Motorola Mobility also declined to give any additional details on exactly how many employees are losing their jobs. The company did say that the 10% number refers to R&D staff only. However, the company confirms that R&D staff is the majority of the staff at the locations in South Korea.

Motorola Mobility says that closing operations in South Korea is part of its plan to consolidate its research and development operations. The move is also hoped to help Motorola Mobility focus its attention on markets where it can compete most effectively.

[via TheNextWeb]

Bloomberg spoke to two people familiar with the situation, with one of them claiming that the sale could potentially bring in $2 billion for Google. Such a sale has been rumored for a while, with one of these anonymous sources claiming that Motorola has been trying to sell off this division for a number of years – back in 2009, the source claims, Motorola tried to sell it for a hefty $4 billion.

It isn’t hard to imagine why Google doesn’t have any interest in set-top boxes. Google bought Motorola for access to its extensive patent portfolio, and building Motorola’s smartphone and tablet business is one of the top priorities for Google. After all, Google has Apple to compete with, and it views this Motorola acquisition as a good way to do just that.

This sale is still at a very early stage, so it may be a while before Google can find a buyer for the Home Business division. Then again, that may not be the case at the end of everything, because Google will be trying awfully hard to sell off this division so it can take that money and focus on Motorola’s smartphone business. Stay tuned, as we’ll have more information on this potential sale when it surfaces.

In other news, one of Apple’s studies claims that people buy Android phones largely out of a feeling of loyalty to their carrier, and it seems that the iPhone maker licensed out patents to Microsoft while Samsung declined to bite. Fisker has made a new statement about the Karma that spontaneously caught fire in California this past weekend, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 was given a release date in the UK. RIM is looking to get rid of NewBay as it seeks fast cash while BlackBerry 10 development continues, and Samsung has announced that a new black Galaxy S III is coming soon.

Sad news for Nintendo fans living in Europe today, as Nintendo pushed the Wii U’s release date back to December. We had a couple pieces of news about Motorola today, some of it good, some of it not so much. The Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE is releasing on August 19, but Motorola Mobility announced today that it will be laying off 20% of its workforce. Electronic Arts is eyeing Windows Phone 8, and Amazon is looking to capitalize on the back to school frenzy by putting its tablets on clearance.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have come up with a way of making fat-free chocolate that apparently tastes like the real deal (yes, really), and President Barack Obama shared some words of encouragement with the NASA Curiosity team earlier this morning. He even promised continued support for what NASA is doing, and that is definitely a good thing. Speaking of space, it seems that the Google Earth satellites have discovered something very interesting: additional Egyptian pyramids. The ARM-based IdeaPad Yoga has been revealed as Lenovo’s Windows RT tablet, and it would seem that the LG Optimus Vu is arriving in the United States before the end of September.

The Neo Geo is getting another shot at life with the Neo Geo X Gold, the Steam Community is about to undergo a makeover, and App.net hit its crowd-funding goal with just two days left to go. That does it for the day’s news, but be sure to check out this freshly-posted review of the Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 by Chris Burns. Enjoy the rest of the evening, everyone!

Motorola Mobility has announced that it will be reducing its workforce by 20%. One-third of those job cuts are expected to come from Motorola Mobility’s US operations alone. This won’t be the first time Motorola Mobility has shed workers to help its bottom line, Motorola previously reduced the number of vice presidents within the organization by 40%.

Motorola’s pruning will also hit its operations within Asia and India. Reports also indicate that R & D spending across various research locations in Chicago, Sunnyvale, and Beijing will occur. Motorola is attempting to refocus away from low end devices and concentrate on a few devices instead of dozens. Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside has stated that Motorola hopes to change its image with new and interesting features like voice recognition that can determine who’s in a room, better cameras, and longer-lasting batteries.

Voice-recognition isn’t exactly a standout feature in the market today since many devices have that capability. However, many people do want smartphones with higher-resolution digital cameras. Motorola Mobility won’t automatically get the job of building the Nexus line of Android devices Google designs. Even though Google owns Motorola Mobility, the company will still have to compete with other manufacturers for the job.

[via The Verge]

Motorola Mobility will continue to operate separately from Google, but you can bet that Google has plans for all the patents Motorola Mobility holds. In the realm of patent suits, I think there could be worse companies making this acquisition than Google. Google bid $12.5 billion to purchase Motorola Mobility. When the deal was first announced some feared Google could make Android less open and more focused on Motorola devices, but those fears seem to have abated.

Motorola Mobility holds several FRAND patents, and Google has promised it would still offer to license the patents to competitors with fair turns. FRAND patents are considered industry standards. However, it didn’t rule out seeking injunctive relief against those who violate the patents.

[via Android Community]