What gives? Why is Motorola dissing Google on Android mobile search?

When it comes to the relationship between Motorola and Google, it seems that the lovefest may be waning. First came news that the Motorola Backflip, AT&T's first smartphone to be powered by Google's Android operating system, would use Yahoo - not Google - as the default search engine on that device.

Now comes news that Motorola has partnered with Microsoft's Bing to power search and maps Chinese Android phones.

What gives? Why is Motorola slapping Google around like this? Was there a falling out between the two?

I've been using a loaner Motorola Droid for a couple of months now and have to say that the search experience - especially in the maps app - is top notch. I can't say with any sort of certainty that the experience could be better or worse if Bing or Yahoo were the search engine. But I can say that the integration between Google services - from mail and calendar to maps and search - has been good.

Maybe Google should be taking this as the ultimate compliment. Maybe Android is such a great mobile OS and the potential for it to dominate the smartphone market is so strong, that Yahoo and Microsoft had  to find a way to tap into that gold mine.

Obviously, I don't know that anyone at Yahoo or Microsoft is saying that. But it's got to be a better explanation for what's happening between Google and Motorola than the alternative, that Motorola is simply dissing Google.