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Google to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion (it’s all about the patents)

By on August 15, 2011 at 7:49am in Mobile News


Wow. This is huge news. Google has just announced that they have “entered into a definitive agreement” that they will acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash. The deal still is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012 and is already approved by both boards, but still needs to be given the green light by their shareholders.

According to the press release it stated that this will allow “Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing”.

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.”

This purchase probably brings some patents too.
More soon…

Update: On the Google Mobile blog there is more insight into the acquisition. Google stated that Motorola will operate as a separate business and still licensee the Android OS, but the next paragraph speaks volumes of the real reasons for the purchase.

“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.”

All about patents these days.

Source: Business Wire & Google blog

Related posts:

  1. Google: 550,000 Android activations every day, 6 billion apps downloaded from the Android Market
  2. Motorola claims RIM infringes on 5 patents… files complaint
  3. Google patents “Ringback Advertising”
  4. Google: “after a lot of thought” we’re offering $900 million for Nortel patents

Discussion

35 comments for “Google to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion (it’s all about the patents)”

  1. Steve Jobs asked for a patent war, guess now he gets one. Or hopefully it would be the beginning of broad patent agreement.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 47 Thumb down 5

    Posted by Kenypowa | August 15, 2011, 7:54 am
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  2. You know my next phone is Motorola…Great news..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 33 Thumb down 6

    Posted by jonh_10 | August 15, 2011, 7:54 am
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    • My Moto Milestone is crapping out after only a year and a half. Never again Moto!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 7

      Posted by monsterduc1000 | August 15, 2011, 10:01 am

  3. freaking awesome :D

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 27 Thumb down 2

    Posted by Bobby | August 15, 2011, 7:55 am
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  4. And hopefully they will release software updates in a more timely manner ….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 46 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Eric | August 15, 2011, 7:56 am
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  5. Hopefully this means the death of motorblur is imminent

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 43 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Bort | August 15, 2011, 7:56 am
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  6. This might actually make Motorola become attractive again lol. With this, I’m assuming future Nexus phones will be made by Moto. Maybe they’ll finally do away with the God-awful Blur too.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 34 Thumb down 1

    Posted by xenec | August 15, 2011, 7:56 am
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    • Not necessarily. Motorola Mobility will still act as an OEM but we can predict that the next Droids will more Nexus-like (w/o Motoblur!).

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0

      Posted by Mathieu | August 15, 2011, 9:41 am

  7. Buy BB while ur at it Google and show the BB CEO how to run a business.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 21 Thumb down 29

    Posted by mda | August 15, 2011, 7:58 am
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    • May as well, Schmidt still rocks a BB as his daily driver.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 2

      Posted by barrist | August 15, 2011, 8:03 am

    • No, leave RIM alone, they should be still 100% Canadian.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

      Posted by aka | August 15, 2011, 11:57 pm

  8. If Google was smart, they’d just plaster Google on all the phones made instead of Motorola. Hopefully they’ll also scrap the Blur UI.

    High end vanilla Android phones such as Nexus have historically done quite well. Add a guarantee of at least 1 to 3 system updates per device, and you’re in business.

    Google has officially tossed their hat in the hardware ring. Let the games begin! :D

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 26 Thumb down 1

    Posted by MXM4K | August 15, 2011, 8:01 am
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  9. I can’t help but wonder how companies like HTC and Samsung are going to react to this… With Google in the hardware market, Android is certain to take a different slant with these companies.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 1

    Posted by jellmoo | August 15, 2011, 8:02 am
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    • Actually I think, Motorola is still gonna operate as if it were not owned by Google.

      Google simply bought them so It would have a better patent folder.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 1

      Posted by Rio | August 15, 2011, 8:41 am

  10. I just hope HTC don’t stop making Android phones!!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 25 Thumb down 2

    Posted by MARS | August 15, 2011, 8:10 am
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  11. Next Nexus will be by Motorola? I think so.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 4

    Posted by mda | August 15, 2011, 8:17 am
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  12. Maybe the XT720 will finally get a legitimate update!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Bob | August 15, 2011, 8:35 am
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    • Yeah, but in the USA, Cincinnati Bell released an unofficial upgrade that seems to work with WIND and Vidéotron.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

      Posted by Alex Perrier | August 15, 2011, 10:20 am

  13. It’s all about the parents and that’s all to defend the android community from the likes of Microsoft and crapple!! LG, samsung and htc are valued partners.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 3

    Posted by hinds | August 15, 2011, 8:51 am
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  14. I am getting sick and tired of Apple, thinking that they invented everything under the moon. MOTOROLA have tonnes more patents then Apple. They were the first out of the block with touch screen phones, not Apple. AS for tablets, Archos was in this business far before Apple stepped foot in the tablet market. I really wish that archos sues the crap out of Apple.
    Go Google! Your products are way more productive and user friendly.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 37 Thumb down 3

    Posted by peters | August 15, 2011, 8:53 am
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    • Im wait for apple to say they own the patent on the configuration of the number pad,, Im sure in steve jobs pin head he believes he invented, 1 before 2 ect. sequence

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 3

      Posted by northy | August 15, 2011, 9:22 am

  15. Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 35

    Posted by KidCanada | August 15, 2011, 9:00 am
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  16. @peters so much truth here, well said!!! I still rock my old Archos every now and then. Apple may have perfected these items but they were not the first. I hope Google with the purchase of Motorola can now be in a better position to fight the hardware and software fight against apple.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 2

    Posted by Ken | August 15, 2011, 9:04 am
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  17. Thanks mobilesyrup for the timely reporting of this very important piece of news! Google’s largest transaction so far, for a patent portfolio. The rationale makes sense given the recent Nortel auction, although prices are high. I only wish I had a few decent patents in hand :) .

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0

    Posted by David Dee | August 15, 2011, 9:16 am
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  18. I wonder if this move will force Apple to possibly buy RIM or even Microsoft to buy RIM. This should be interesting to see what the next big move is.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0

    Posted by WirelessBoy | August 15, 2011, 9:17 am
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  19. Let’s see how quickly this news item gets picked up..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1

    Posted by Rexuslexus | August 15, 2011, 9:23 am
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  20. Here’s hoping that will make Motorola stop sucking with their evil lack of software updates.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0

    Posted by TeknoBug | August 15, 2011, 9:34 am
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  21. RIM made it so the playbook could run Android apps… Android is the obvious platform for RIM as just hardware maker?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by MER1978 | August 15, 2011, 10:52 am
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    • No, QNX is the obvious platform for RIM. They just run an emulator to open source Android software with help from their app devs. RIM will stick with QNX as it has a lot of potential, hopefully they won’t screw it up with product delays in 2012.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

      Posted by aka | August 16, 2011, 12:02 am

  22. I hope this will force Apple and others to just concentrate on making advancements in products instead of stifling other manufacturers’ products.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Stuntman | August 15, 2011, 1:16 pm
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  23. RIM will never sell

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1

    Posted by crunch204 | August 15, 2011, 2:30 pm
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  24. Maybe now I’ll get gingerbread on my atrix…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Pierce | August 15, 2011, 2:43 pm
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  25. Can you imagine Moto with pure Android? It’s gonna be awesome!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by BBC | August 16, 2011, 12:48 pm
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