Google 'Supercharging Android' with Acquisition of Motorola Mobility

google motorola
Google today announced that it will acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, giving the Android developer a significant new hardware arm to help drive the platform forward. The deal brings $40 in cash for Motorola Mobility's shares, a 63% premium over Friday's closing price.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

While Google will be able to make a direct move into the hardware business with Motorola Mobility, the company claims that Android will remain an "open platform" and that it will continue to support all vendors offering Android products.

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, “We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.”

In a blog post regarding the deal, Google CEO Larry Page reveals that Google felt compelled to make the acquisition in order to address the patent threats facing the company with a number of companies having recently cooperated to acquire large patent pools that could threaten Android.

We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to “protect competition and innovation in the open source software community” and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our 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.

Google plans to run Motorola Mobility as a separate business and expects the transaction to close by the end of the year or early next year after appropriate approvals from Motorola Mobility shareholders and regulatory authorities.

Update: In a conference call discussing the acquisition, Google revealed that it will be acquiring 17,000 patents and an additional 7,500 filed patent applications in the deal, substantially strengthening its position in the mobile patent arms race.

Popular Stories

apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...
new iphone lockscreen ios 26

iOS 26: Five Changes Coming to Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday June 17, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has made some additions to the iPhone Lock Screen that aim to make it more customizable than ever. Of course, things can always change before the software makes its way to the general iPhone-owning public, but here are five new things iOS 26 can do on the Lock Screen as of the current developer beta. Widgets Top or Bottom In iOS 18, the row of widgets on your Lock...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...

Top Rated Comments

Lone Deranger Avatar
181 months ago
So according to Google's top brass when Apple buys patents it's anti-competative, but Google buying patents is breaking new ground? Hypocrisy defined right there. :rolleyes:
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FrHa Avatar
181 months ago
Call me stupid, but I honestly think this is a bad idea. Google has basically just got married (Motorola), whilst having having loads of other girlfriends (HTC, Samsung, LG, etc.).

Don't you think this acquisition may put other companies off the idea of using Android?
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
leesmith2 Avatar
181 months ago
Nice spin there Larry! Never mind the fact that Google actively tried to acquire all those patents for that very same purpose. Android's partners are now their competitors.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
haruhiko Avatar
181 months ago
Poor Samsung and HTC. :rolleyes:
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bbplayer5 Avatar
181 months ago
Don't worry people we're still winning!!! iPhone 5 will blow them all away there's nothing Google can do to stop us.

You say "we" like you are part of some battle? Its a friggen phone lol..
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rdowns Avatar
181 months ago
They don't think so (http://www.slashgear.com/htc-sony-ericsson-and-lg-praise-googles-17k-motorola-patent-grab-15171695/).


Sounds like the same PR guy wrote all of the statements.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)