Google is attempting to purchase Motorola Mobility, the maker of Motorola mobile handsets, for $12.5 billion, pending FTC approval, as well as other worldwide regulatory scrutiny.
If the deal goes through, Google, who will maintain Motorola Mobility as a separate entity, will align themselves with Apple in that they will be making the devices that run their own operating system. They will also own the more than 16,000 patents owned by Motorola, which may help avoid some future legal action from competitors. Google CEO Larry Page said, "Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google's patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies."
Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility commented, "We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses."
I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this all works itself out, but they must be scrambling today at HTC, LG, Sony and Samsung.