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“With the entry of Google into the handset-making market, the search giant has just declared a number of things, most especially that its own future is all about mobile.”
——All Things D’s Kara Swisher

GOOGLE GOES HEAD TO HEAD WITH THE iPHONE, iPAD

Search Giant Agrees to Acquire Smartphone and Tablet Maker Motorola Mobility
Google is going into hardware business, putting it in direct competition with Apple. The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Google will acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion, meaning the Internet giant will be manufacturing its own Android phones, though the Android OS will remain an open platform. Google says the purchase “will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing.” Last quarter Motorola sold 10.6 million handsets, up 28% from the year-ago quarter. Of that, 4.4 million or about 42%, were smartphones. It also sold 440k tablets.As All Things D’s Kara Swisher noted just moments after the deal was announced, “With the entry of Google into the handset-making market, the search giant has just declared a number of things, most especially that its own future is all about mobile.” Swisher also coined a word in her headline: “Motoogle: BOOM! The Mobile Business Just Got Completely Blown Up.”The deal, which comes just eight months after the split of Motorola, would give Google control of Motorola Mobility's attractive patent portfolio after the company recently missed out on a bid for Nortel Networks’ portfolio. Google subsequently had preliminary discussions with InterDigital about a possible acquisition of the wireless technology developer and licenser.Google has a thin portfolio of wireless and telecommunications patents. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business that will remain a licensee of Android. The transaction should be completed by early next year.Most of the Motorola's revenue comes from smartphones, and the company has been working to diversify its customer base to defend against the potential loss of Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA, a key customer.Carl Icahn, the company's largest shareholder, had urged Motorola Mobility to explore options for its patent portfolio in the wake of the Nortel deal, which attracted multiple bidders.The smartphone and set-top box company split with its sister Motorola Solutions, which is focused on business and networking operations, at the beginning of the year. The separation made Motorola Mobility nimbler and more focused on its core operations, but it faces a highly competitive smartphone market, including a persistent threat from you know who.
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