Google and Motorola's next smartphone, the Nexus 6, is supposed to bring a new level of production value to the industry and show how Google acquiring Motorola could lead to great things. However, any future owners of the device have reason to mourn the lack of a fingerprint sensor thanks to Apple's actions.
Ex-Motorola CEO and Dropbox COO Dennis Woodside revealed all in an interview with the Telegraph. According to Woodside, Apple bought out Authentec, the company that was supposed to make Nexus 6's fingerprint sensor. The acquisition occurred in 2012 for over $356 million. While there were other fingerprint scanner developers on the market, none of their products held up to Motorola's technological standards. Hence, the project was scrapped.
Woodside revealed that he thought the Google Nexus was too big.
"it is enormous... I drop it all the time," he said.
While Apple's acquisition of Authentec certainly hindered the company, Motorola offered users access to an Authentec fingerprint scanner on the 2011 Atrix 4G.
However, Authentec helped Apple build multiple new systems for their iPhone, including Touch ID and Apple Pay. It also set Apple ahead, letting them lead the charge towards using fingerprints to protect identities.
Google announced that they were acquiring Motorola in August 2011. However, after a series of failures, Google sold the company to Chinese computer developer Lenovo in January 2014.
