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
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