Google announced that it would be acquiring Motorola Mobility almost a year ago, and today the US$12.5bn (in cash) deal has finally been signed, sealed and delivered. Google’s Dennis Woodside has been installed as new Motorola CEO, taking over from Sanjay Jha.
Motorola is probably the best known and highest rated US mobile phone manufacturer, and it’s believed that one of the reasons for the acquisition is so Google can essentially “make its own hardware” for future Nexus devices – rather than use third parties as with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
However, Motorola’s patents are probably the sweetest part of the deal for Google. Motorola holds around 17,000 mobile tech patents, with another 7,500 pending – and these will now be owned by Google and can therefore be “restricted” to Android phones. The idea is presumably to give Android an edge over rival operating systems like Windows Phone and iOS.
Good move from Google? Let us know your thoughts below.
