Android Industry News: Google Buys Motorola

22.8.11 The Reporter 0 Comments

Last week was a phenomenal moment for Google, Motorola, and the Android: Google acquired 63% of Motorola shares for USD $12.5 Billion, effectively owning the company.

This certainly must be a well-thought-out move for Google, but one wonders what the different circles of people affected by the merger think:

• The Investors have released statements supporting the move.
• Mobiledia has quoted Motorola employees as being apprehensive of the change, especially because of the differences in Google and Motorola corporate cultures.
• Motorola and Google's head honchos are apparently optimistic about the merger.

So what does this mean for us consumers?

• We will now have an Android product choice that is "Officially Google, Officially Android" in standard.
• Motorola as a consumer choice will be expected to be at the forefront of Android innovations.
• The Android OS we so love will be housed in machines that an 80-year-old mobile device manufacturer will produce.

Motorola as a mobile device company has created devices that have been used in the forefront of military battles. Their technology was the cream of the cellular phone industry's crop, until they hit obscurity prior to Android.

Maybe it was because their designs failed to catch on with the trends. Maybe it was because Motorola failed to find a way to keep afloat despite the onslaught of the Blackberry and the iPhone. Maybe because it was starting to lose its innovative edge.

But Motorola showed that it still had an eye for what could potentially save the company: they were among the first to jump onto the Android bandwagon. In the past, Andy Rubin also helped bring to life another innovative mobile platform: the "Magic Cap." The Magic Cap was developed in General Magic, a side company of Apple, in the early to mid 90's. Sadly, Rubin's innovation wasn't given the time of day by mobile companies back then. It was just buried into the archives of Apple's failure-to-launch casualties. When Andy Rubin launched the Android after being acquired by Google, Motorola was among the first to see its potential as an OS. Thus, the positive, even friendly business relations between Google and Motorola began.

Call it a favor for a favor, call it a shrewd act of goodwill and business sense combined, but one thing is sure: the Google-Motorola merger has been drafted, inked and announced, and will be completed end of 2011 or early 2012. Good things are coming to the Android industry.



 
Note: This merger does not mean that the Android will now become a closed system like the iPhone or the Windows Phone OS. It will still remain free, Open Source and highly modifiable by the mobile companies and Android Partners who choose to implement it.