Google acquires Motorola Mobility: the full story

Since Google made its intentions known that it would acquire Motorola's Mobility division (the arm of the company behind its smartphones and tablets) for a cool $12.5b, speculation about what the deal really means has run rampant in the tech community. Based on the announcement post Larry Page penned on Google's official blog, it was clear that there are at least a couple of reasons why the folks in Mountain View would want to have their hand in Motorola's business. The first and most obvious one being that it badly needs some of the company's patents to fend off recent attacks from small competitors like Apple, Oracle, and Microsoft.

But that's probably not the only reason Google wants or needs Motorola — at least if you've read the tech press in the last few days, that's what you would believe. So what are the possible outcomes of this relationship? If Google only needed the patents, why did it choose to purchase the entire company instead of licensing what it wanted (as Nilay points out in this piece)? If Google desired something more, like, say, a hardware business of its own for making Android products, how can it keep things copacetic with partners like HTC, Samsung, and LG? Or is there another, more / less nefarious reason the search giant suddenly has an appetite for RAZRs and set-top boxes? After a long, hard think about what this all really means, I've arrived at only three real outcomes for this union. Want to know how they look? Read on.

Google said this morning that it dropped its "top five" Android partners a line yesterday to let them know that this Motorola acquisition was taking place -- so naturally, many of them had prepared statements ready to go. The move will have ripple effects across several entire industries, though -- not just the Android ecosystem alone -- so we wanted to reach out and get reactions from a few companies that have a vested interest in Google's successes and failures.

Overall, the theme across Android licensees' initial statements is unwaveringly supportive at this point. Considering that Google's primary goal is to shore up Android's shaky patent situation, that comes as little surprise -- though the striking similarity in some of the messaging suggests that Mountain View may have applied some pressure to show a unified front today. Regardless, the ball will be in Google's court going forward to make sure that these guys aren't put at a competitive disadvantage against Motorola -- a move that could drive them away from Android altogether and into alternatives like Windows Phone, as Nokia's statement seems to imply.

Google tried to present its $12.5b acquisition of Motorola as an opportunity to "supercharge the Android ecosystem," but it's clear that the deal was equally prompted out of desire to protect Android from further patent lawsuits using Motorola's strong patent portfolio. From all appearances, it actually seems like Google was first interested in somehow licensing or buying Motorola's patents, and then decided it would be nice to spend a little more and just buy the whole damn company. Of course, that raises the question: what's going to happen now? The smartphone landscape is awash in patent suits, most targeted at Android OEMs, and Google's clearly looking to have an impact. What's the strategy?

All that said, it's still curious why Google spent the full $12.5b on Motorola, instead of a smaller amount acquiring the rights to Moto's patents -- or the rights to litigate with those patents. (Or even something more like the Microsoft / Nokia deal, which involved patent cross-licensing and joint development by the two companies.) It's easy to see why Google and Motorola joined forces to make the most out of Moto's patents -- but now they've got to explain how they'll make the most out of what actually matters: Motorola's products.