Google Buys Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion

Google Snarfs Up Motorola Mobility in Mega-Acquisition

Google is set to make its largest acquisition yet, and it's not a web property. Google is buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash.

The reasoning behind the move is fairly obvious: Google wants to protect the Android brand. Right now, Motorola is a bit of a weak link, to put it mildly. Motorola Android handset owners know how reticent Motorola Mobility is to provide things like updates and reasonable battery life.

I had to do unspeakable things to get my humble XT720 to run Froyo, an upgrade that should have been doable via Motorola. Instead, I had to enlist the aid of Dexter. 

This is not just about making handsets, though. Motorola Mobility owns plenty of smartphone and tablet patents, and the Android-vs-iOS platform war isn't just about today's market share, but tomorrow's innovations. Also, Motorola knows how to manufacture handsets (if not how to support them), whereas Google isn't so hot at that aspect of the game.

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Thompson Calls Google-Motorola Mobility Deal `Bold Move'

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It's not clear that Google will (or should) get into manufacturing: it may just shuck the patents and sell the Motorola brand to another manufacturer. Hardware manufacturing is pretty far outside Google's wheelhouse.

While Android users outnumber iPhone users, the difference between the two operating systems is starting to shrink. Now that iOS will allow untethered activation and other Android-like features. If a user is stuck with a non-upgradable phone, what's to stop her from jumping ship and swimming to the Good Ship iPhone?

(Bonus: for XT720/Milestone users who want to install Android 2.2/Froyo, start with Dexter's custom Froyo. It worked for me, but proceed at your own risk. At. Your. Own. Risk.)