In what has to be one of the most significant tech developments of the year so far, Motorola’s Mobile phones making division, Motorola Mobility has been acquired by Google. The division which just reported losses of $52 million in Q2, 2012 has been lapped up by Google for a cool 12.5 billion dollars. Google is paying a premium of 63% over the current (Friday) share prices of Motorola Mobility.
Google has right from the outset, made it clear that Motorola would be just another manufacturer who will be a licensed Android OS user. Major Android licensees including HTC. Sony Ericsson and LG have welcomed Google’s move and its promise that Google would be committed to protect the Android ecosystem and would defend Android and its partners.
The decision to buy Motorola could also be based on the fact that the company owns close to 16,000 patents in the field of mobile telephony and technology – a virtual treasure trove of assets in todays world of lawsuits and counter-suits. The Google blog post announcing the acquisition clearly mentions that Google intends to strengthen its patent portfolio. It also blames Apple and Microsoft for banding together against Android with “anti-competitive” patent attacks.
Furthermore, Google adds that this acquisition will supercharge the already fast growing Android platform.
It would be certainty interesting to see how the rest of the Android fraternity reacts to this new development. Until now, the famed ‘Google Phone” was made by companies like HTC and Samsung. In the future, will this change?
