Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility

On August 15, 2011, Google bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion -- this deal marked the biggest acquisition for Google in its history. Dennis Woodside, the newly appointed CEO of Motorola Mobility by Google, claimed that the aim of the purchase was "to focus Motorola Mobility's remarkable talent on fewer, bigger bets, and create wonderful devices that are used by people around the world." Sure, that was nice of Google to say, but what exactly was Google's true motive behind this purchase?

Let's first take a look at the market conditions around the time. In the year 2011, Google was heavily involved in a series of patent infringement attacks from its major competitors such as Apple and Microsoft. As a means of self-defense, Google decided to take in Motorola Mobility specifically for its robust patent portfolio. At the time, Motorola Mobility was a spin-off of Motorola and held over 24,000 patents and pending patent applications worldwide. With these newly acquired patents, Google immediately was equipped with a surge of "weapons" to not only protect it self but also start its counterattack and retaliate against its previous litigations.

Some industry experts even believed that Google was targeting much more than just a patent mine. As a result of the acquisition, Google was moving into Apple territory. Buying Motorola Mobility granted Google the ability to control both hardware and software and enabled them to manufacture its own integrated smartphones and other devices. "With this acquisition Google can also come up with equivalent of Apple TV, Roku, and tablets," says Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Digital Route.

Though it came at a hefty price, this acquisition is quite a strategic move for Google move in terms of warding off patent attacks and fostering long term growth. Well done, Google.

Read more here: http://patentlyo.com/patent/2011/08/googles-purchase-of-motorola-mobility.html