And world domination looms ever closer for Google. The tech company announced a surprising acquisition earlier today, of Android partner and hardware manufacturer Motorola. The deal – for $12.5 billion or $40/share – moves Google into the hardware business side of things, although company spokesmen state that the intent is to allow Motorola to continue to run as a separate entity.
Larry Page, CEO of Google, explained the move in a post on the official Google blog, “We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android.” Page is referencing an earlier post by Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond.
“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.” Page’s post continued, “The combination of Google and Motorola will not only supercharge Android, but will also enhance competition and offer consumers accelerating innovation, greater choice, and wonderful user experiences. I am confident that these great experiences will create huge value for shareholders,”
“This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses,” said Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha.
“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,” explained Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Google Mobile.
(via IndustryGamers)
Any thoughts on Google’s move here, EGs? Feel free to mull it over with the community in the comments section!
Well considering how well the Droid is doing, it is a perfect move for Google to make that its primary Android phone. Besides Microsoft has partners for certain phones and Apple has the iPhone.
It’s really a logical move. Google’s been getting punched in the guts by other companies patents, and at this stage in the game the only way to get patents of their own is to spend some of that hidden google gold they’ve got cached away. Pocketchange, we might call it – except that to google, billions is pocketchange lol.