What do you do when your company suffers a $56 million second-quarter net loss? If you’re Motorola Mobility, you cash in by selling your soul to Google for a cool $12.5 billion, which is exactly what the search giant announced early Monday.
The Official Google Blog has announced that Google plans to acquire Motorola Mobility, the handset division of the chipmaker who has become a dedicated partner for the Android platform. Touting “more than 150 million Android devices” activated worldwide since the November, 2007 launch, the acquisition is billed as a new way to “supercharge the Android ecosystem.”
“Motorola’s total commitment to Android in mobile devices is one of many reasons that there is a natural fit between our two companies,” writes Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page. “Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere.
“This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform,” Page continues. “Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.”
Page feels that Google’s 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.” However, it remains to be seen how the move will affect the other 38 manufacturers producing Android devices, including HTC, who’s shown a much deeper commitment to the platform than anyone else thus far.
“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,” Page concludes. “I am confident that these great experiences will create huge value for shareholders.”
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