Google has announced its plans for acquiring Motorola Mobility for a deal said to be worth $12.5 billion, which Google has agreed to pay in cash. It is being said that one of the biggest reasons behind this acquisition for Google is to bolster its patent portfolio, which has recently been attacked almost ceaselessly by companies such as Apple and Microsoft.
After taking over Motorola, Google will own in excess of 17,000 patents related to mobile phones worldwide, with 7,000 more patents said to be on the way from Motorola.
The first news of the acquisition came when Google announced it on its internet blog this morning. In a statement meant for the investors, the CEO of the company, Larry Page said that the strong portfolio of patents which Motorola has will provide good protection for the Android mobile platform developed by Google. Some time ago this month, Google had accused its competitors such as Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and RIM of having grouped together to bully the company in what they called was an organized and hostile campaign against the Android OS.
The senior vice president of Google, David Drummond, said that the company has been intending to consolidate its patent reservoir for some time now as a defensive strategy, to ensure that Android and the other ventures of the company can be successful in the market. The company has recognized that the lawsuits which have currently been filed against both, itself and Motorola, will go on; however no one from Google has yet come out to comment on what legal strategies it will pursue with this new list of patents in its bag.
According to Google, this purchase will result in further innovation in Android, which might be true as a fact; however the company cannot afford to ignore the fact that through this deal it has now entered into a direct competitive market against other smartphone manufacturers which use Android as their preferred platform. Such companies include the likes of Samsung, HTC and LG.
Google has come out reassuringly, insisting that everything will remain the same in the competition in hardware manufacturers. Page said that Google will operate Motorola as a completely separate business, and the company’s plan is to keep Motorola as a licensee of Android. On the matter of the acquisition affecting the other OEMs, Page said that this will not change the way they run Android and that the compay’s partners are excited by this prospect.
