Google Motorola deal 'a wake-up call'

A joint statement said the boards of both companies had unanimously approved the deal, which should be completed by the end of this year, or early in 2012.

Earlier this year, Motorola split into two separate companies.

Mobility develops and manufactures mobile phones, while Motorola Solutions covers wider technologies for corporate customers and governments.

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Analysis


Tim Weber
Business editor, BBC News website
Google is making a high-stakes gamble in the global smartphone wars.

The search engine giant and developer of the Android operating system for mobile phones is gearing up for its confrontation with Apple and (to a lesser extent) Microsoft.

Google has suffered a number of mobile phone setbacks recently, most of them in patent courts. Motorola Mobility holds 24,500 patents, which should allow Google to imitate Apple's strategy of slowing down rivals by taking them to court for alleged patent infringements.

Google's problem is that buying Motorola leaves its other Android partners potentially high and dry. Will they get the same early access to the latest versions of Android? Will Motorola get that little bit extra when it comes to smartphone features?

Google has released statements from three Android partners supporting the deal. They're clearly written with clenched teeth. To handset-makers, Microsoft's new Windows Phone software will suddenly look quite attractive.

And it puts a question mark over Google's new boss Larry Page. Does he have no better use for the company's cash than buying a fickle hardware business? Is Google losing corporate focus?

Shares in Motorola Mobility jumped 57% in early trading in New York to $38.27, still below the offer price of $40 per share. Shares in Google fell slightly.

Meanwhile, Nokia shares jumped more than 10% on news of the deal, with renewed speculation that the Finnish mobile phone company could become a bid target itself.

'New opportunities'
The deal would allow Google to "supercharge" its Android operating system, the joint statement said.

Google said it would continue to run Mobility as a separate business.

"Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies," said Larry Page, Google's chief executive.

Sanjay Jha, his counterpart at Mobility, said: "This transaction offers significant value for [our] stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers and partners around the world."

The deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

Motorola was once one of the world's most successful mobile phone manufacturers, but has fallen behind the likes of Apple, Samsung and HTC in recent years.

Many of its handsets already use Google's Android operating system.

Category:

News & Politics

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• Motorola
• deal
• 'a
• wake-up
• call

[im1greatman]

Google now owns a manufacturer and is moving away from the ARM processor architecture to work with Intel. I seen amazing things in the future for Google only if they change Motorola's name, work on Motorola's customer service (phone updates) and rid themselves of motoblur. Google/Google Mobility branded phones tablets running ICS/Jellybean with Intel quad core CPU's.

[aassxxaa1]

so he doesn't like the iPhone and he is having one , nice

[fall4fellatio]

this anchor woman has serious biceps

[biggerben2010]

@TheJasperKitty bitch please. Go suck Steve jobs cook. You virgin slut.

[TheFashizy]

@TheJasperkitty So the short sell of a no longer supported format tablet, will kill the Android tablets? It'd only force them to do that if they had a years supply of tablets that could last the $99 buying fest 24 hrs a day. If they have that much inventory, then maybe. BestBuy ordered about 250K of them or so and they were the largest buyers. What will eventually slow the sales of both ends is that as more and people buy them, they'll realize they don't NEED another one for a long while.

[TheJasperkitty]

@biggerben2010 You're so young, you still have the smell of breast milk in your mouth and you're using all those "mommie says no" words. Be careful if she sees this, Skooter, you'll end up in time-out with your computer privileges revoked! LOL!!

[TheJasperkitty]

@TheFashizy Funny then that the nail in the coffin for ANDROID tablets would come from HP's webOS device. The $99 price is wildly successful and everyone who wanted a non-Apple device is scooping them up. I believe this will kill the Android Tablet market, or force them to make the devices and sell them for $99. So here's the rip.... If you count the iPad, Apple is still kicking ass. If you use Google Math and only count phones, Android wins. But Apple still wins on profit.

[biggerben2010]

@TheJasperkitty you don't know shit about tech, so shut the fuck up, fag.

[TheFashizy]

@TheFashizy I like my iPad because of the apps & since it's something I don't use heavily as my phone, it works just fine. If Android had all the apps that it has now for it's phones, I'd have bought a G-Tab over the iPad any day. But definitely smaller like 7". But at this point, I'll probably not buy any new tablet for yrs because I don't use it as much as I thought I would. It's mostly just a cool toy to take on planes & camping trips. At least for me. I just want a real choice in phones.

[TheFashizy]

@TheJasperkitty I like the iPad. I have both models. It's great around the house when I'm just tinkering around. It has more apps at the moment. I just don't like the iPhone. It's too small, and too limited. Running 2 businesses, I like info right now, and Android saves me lots of unnecessary steps. I'm not speaking for the world, but obviouly Android is growing much faster than iPhone, and Apple is doing everything they can to stop it, everything BUT advance the look of the phone.