The folks up at Google Inc. have just announced that the company will be acquiring Motorola Mobility for a whopping $12.5 billion in an attempt to “supercharge” Android.
The news comes straight from Google’s official blog where CEO Larry Page announces the acquisition. He starts with how Android has over 150 million devices activated with 550,000 being added every day and how Motorola is amongst the leading Android smartphone manufacturers with their DROID series.
From Google Blog:
Given Android’s phenomenal success, we are always looking for new ways to supercharge the Android ecosystem. That is why I am so excited today to announce that we have agreed to acquire Motorola.
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. I am confident that these great experiences will create huge value for shareholders.
This move is being seen as Google’s attempt to directly compete with Apple on the basis of its “put your software on your own hardware” policy. Having Motorola under it, Google will now be able to directly influence just how Motorola’s Android smartphones come out.
It will be interesting to see the reaction from other Android smartphone vendors like Samsung Mobile and HTC. Google assures that this acquisition will enhance competition instead of diminishing it:
The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.
Gaining Motorola Mobility means Google will also get their patents, meaning it will help them secure Android from the “organized campaigns” of rivals Microsoft and Apple.
What does this mean for the average consumer? Well, for starters, Motorola’s DROID series of Android smartphones will now be among the very first devices to get the latest Android OS updates and there is a chance that Google may tinker with Motorola’s MOTOBLUR Android UI replacement to make it closer to the clean Android experience offered on phones like the Google Nexus S and Nexus One. These are just the basics, plenty of other things will happen which we will only know in due time.
All in all, this is one very, very interesting development and we look forward to its inevitable results on the Android ecosystem which we have a feeling will be quite positive.
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