Despite being a small contender in the mobile market with only a 3% market share and a net loss of $56 million in Q2 2011, Motorola Mobility (Motorola’s handset division) is being acquired by Google for a cool $12.5 billion. Of course, it has to pass through the government and Motorola’s shareholders first, but if the acquisition really happens, it could be big.
From the press release:
“The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.”
One of the biggest aspects that attracted Google to Motorola was the bevy of patents that they owned – all 17,000 of them. Larry Page, CEO of Google says that this “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.”
Wonder what other handset manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, and LG are thinking about all of this? Surprisingly, all of them approve of the acquisition and welcome it with open arms. Then again, this whole thing is about protecting the Android platform and it does not negatively affect the ecosystem for other manufacturers.
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