Google 'Supercharging Android' With Acquisition of Motorola Mobility

[MacRumors]

Google today announced that it will acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, giving the Android developer a significant new hardware arm to help drive the platform forward. The deal brings $40 in cash for Motorola Mobility's shares, a 63% premium over Friday's closing price.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, "Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers."

While Google will be able to make a direct move into the hardware business with Motorola Mobility, the company claims that Android will remain an "open platform" and that it will continue to support all vendors offering Android products.

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, "We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices."

In a blog post regarding the deal, Google CEO Larry Page reveals that Google felt compelled to make the acquisition in order to address the patent threats facing the company with a number of companies having recently cooperated to acquire large patent pools that could threaten Android.

We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to "protect competition and innovation in the open source software community" and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google's patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

Google plans to run Motorola Mobility as a separate business and expects the transaction to close by the end of the year or early next year after appropriate approvals from Motorola Mobility shareholders and regulatory authorities.

Article Link: Google 'Supercharging Android' With Acquisition of Motorola Mobility

 

[res1233]

He said it! He said "open"!

 

[haruhiko]

Poor Samsung and HTC.

 

[inflynx]

WOW, didn't see that coming

 

[ericinboston]

I really don't follow the Motorola cell phones...but had a Razr back in the day.

I think Apple's now in for an even bigger battle as Motorola now has big big bucks filling it's pockets to fuel more and better Androids.

 

[leesmith2]

Nice spin there Larry! Never mind the fact that Google actively tried to acquire all those patents for that very same purpose. Android's partners are now their competitors.

 

[kenypowa]

Poor Samsung and HTC.

They are glad. Motorola holds 17000 patents. Guess how many Apple is infringing?

It's all about patents, my friends. Anything that lead to cross-licensing agreement is good news for Saumsung and HTC.

 

[314631]

Don't worry people we're still winning!!! iPhone 5 will blow them all away there's nothing Google can do to stop us.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Big vindication for Apple's business model.

Microsoft should probably figure out soon that they need to do hardware. Will they now buy Nokia?

 

[reezer]

Am I wrong or does Sammy and HTC make the better Android handsets? I wonder what they would have cost.

 

[Twizz91]

Did anyone expect this??? What if Nokia wouldnt have been acquired by MS? Would Google have bought it?

 

[Apple...]

They are glad. Motorola holds 17000 patents. Guess how many Apple is infringing?

NONE.

Oh, and this won't help them one bit in their Java/Oracle lawsuit.

 

[Gen]

Whaaaaat, crazy news

 

[FrHa]

Call me stupid, but I honestly think this is a bad idea. Google has basically just got married (Motorola), whilst having having loads of other girlfriends (HTC, Samsung, LG, etc.).

Don't you think this acquisition may put other companies off the idea of using Android?

 

[rdowns]

This smacks of desperation to me. Paying a 60% premium for the worst of the Android manufacturers. Not to mention having to integrate 19,000 employes into your 29,000 employee company. Google down 3% pre-market. They must really be infringing on a ton of others patents.

Validates Apple's business model.

Samsung and HTC must be livid. Like they want to compete for hardware sales with the guys who make their OS.

I think RIMM is now officially done.

 

[OllyW]

Poor Samsung and HTC.

They don't think so.

Am I wrong or does Sammy and HTC make the better Android handsets? I wonder what they would have cost.

Google isn't bothered about who makes the best handsets, it wants the 17,000 Motorola patents.

 

[daneoni]

MS *virtually* takes Nokia, HP takes Palm, Google takes Motorola and Apple takes er...Apple...or Nortel along with MS.

Interesting that HTC and Sammie now have to compete with Google who is meant to be a partner...WP7 and even webOS are starting to look more attractive as licensing options now.

 

[Blakjack]

Ohhhhhh man.........**** just got funky. I hope everybody's ready for this ride

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

How exactly was Apple and the other companies buying the patents "anticompetitive"? Sounds like it was extremely competitive to me. They're playing hard ball and Google wants to whine about it.

And I'll echo what others have been saying, I definitely did not see this coming. But then again, I don't follow Google anymore than what MacRumors posts on them, so maybe that's why.

 

[arcite]

Big vindication for Apple's business model.

Microsoft should probably figure out soon that they need to do hardware. Will they now buy Nokia?

Seems likely now...

 

[radhakv]

They are glad. Motorola holds 17000 patents. Guess how many Apple is infringing?

It's all about patents, my friends. Anything that lead to cross-licensing agreement is good news for Saumsung and HTC.

But 12.5 billion is a huge and at one point the investors wants return and they will sure abandon their partners. A bitter truth they have to bite. They all know this.

 

[BaldiMac]

So are all of these patents "bogus" or are they legitimate because they were purchase by Google? This seems like a "hostile, organized campaign against" the owners of patents that Android currently violates.

 

[ChazUK]

They don't think so.

Hopefully, people will take stock of the official word from OEM's. Here they are again for those that won't click OllyW's link:

“We welcome the news of today’s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem” Peter Chou, CEO, HTC

“I welcome Google’s commitment to defending Android and its partners” Bert Nordberg, President & CEO, Sony Ericsson

“We welcome Google’s commitment to defending Android and its partners” Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D, President & CEO, LG

“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem” J.K. Shin, President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division

 

[radhakv]

They don't think so.



Google isn't bothered about who makes the best handsets, it wants the 17,000 Motorola patents.

May be know. On the long run, given the history of google THey will sure stop supporting other people or at least they will make sure their handsets are better than the rest in terms of software at least .

 

[*LTD*]

This is interesting.

Though on the outset it seems Google just got themselves in a huge fustercluck.

They can barely manage Android as it is; are they up to these new management challenges?

Time will tell.