Well slap me silly and call us crazy – we never, ever saw this coming. Google is getting set to buy Motorola Mobility, the company who was a huge part of why Android has quickly become one of the most widely-used operating systems today. The purchase will be made for $ 12.5 billion. Google cites Motorola’s commitment to Android being the only smartphone operating system they use as one of the reasons why the OEM fits their future plans perfectly.
This doesn’t mean Google has suddenly become an OEM – Motorola will continue to operate independently and Android will still be as open as it is now to every OEM. A large part of this acquisition has to do with Motorola’s stronghold in other telecommunications market.
Another piece to the puzzle? Motorola’s patent portfolio. They get a nice list of patents to go along with the company in order to further help protect themselves from the patent trolls.
I know what all of you are thinking – ZOMG NEXUS 3 BY MOTOROLA! We don’t know that. In fact, we’d bet heavily against that. But we’re glad to see previous rumors of Motorola’s plan to fade away from Android to focus on their own operating system may be curtailed by the fact that they are owned by Google. [Google, Press Release]
