Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion

Not respecting the fact that some people like to kick off their Monday slowly to help get themselves into a groove for the rest of the work week, Google’s CEO Larry Page announced via the company’s official blog its plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for a healthy $12.5 billion. This, my friends, is the sort of news that makes this industry interesting, if not exciting.

There are many reasons why Google would want to acquire a company like Motorola, and the timing leads us to believe that patents is the leading one. With Microsoft and other select companies banding together to make a profit on Android devices, an acquisition of one of the oldest communication companies with a padded IP portfolio had to be appealing.

The fact that Motorola has been an avid Android supporter from the beginning had to have earned the company brownie points as well, though Google promises to treat Motorola Mobility as a separate company, not one it’s going to integrate right into the company itself:

“This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. 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.“

Separate or not, the acquisition of Motorola means a lot of things to Google. Patent help, Android penetration, and of course, the general benefits of owning one of the biggest mobile hardware vendors in the industry.

According to Google, this acquisition will help “supercharge” Android and enhance competition. The company is careful to show that this acquisition is only a competitive move where Android vs. all other mobile OSes are concerned, not hardware. Other Android vendors are sure to appreciate the new-found patent protection, and the assurance that Android is only going to become even more compelling as time goes on.