Google acquires Motorola Mobility to 'supercharge' Android, battle Apple
Surprising $12.5 billion deal gives Google hardware unit and greater control in creating and moving new mobile features to market.
Google this morning said it would buy Motorola Mobility, the recently-spun-out mobile device company, for $12.5 billion. The move gives Google its first hardware holdings, bringing in-house one of the biggest manufacturers of Android-based smartphones and tablets.
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Google said it would pay $40 per share for Motorola Mobility, a huge 63% premium on its closing price Friday. Google said it would run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.
The search and now mobile software giant said the deal would help it "supercharge" the Android ecosystem, while Andy Rubin, Google's senior vice president of mobile, claimed the company remains "firmly committed to Android as an open platform and vibrant open source community."
That said, the deal no doubt comes as a shock to that community, including hardware markers like HTC, Samsung and others that have helped propel Android devices (smartphones for now, not yet tablets) to surpass the Apple iPhone in combined market share; to software makers that now to an even greater extent must compete with Google-created mobile apps; and even to telecom operators, which are likely considering the impact of Google joining Apple as a single source for mobile hardware and software.
Read the press release: Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility
More to come later this morning.
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