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Google: We now own Motorola Mobility

The Google acquisition of Motorola Mobility has been consummated, according to the CEO of Google.
Written by James Kendrick, Contributor
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/i/story/62/72/007934/jk-google-onboard1.jpgThe 12.5 billion dollar acquisition of Motorola Mobility has been finalized, according to a blog post by Larry Page (CEO) of Google. The deal was consummated after approval by regulatory agencies in the US and China.

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, will be stepping down as Google takes over the company.

Sanjay Jha, who was responsible for building the company and placing that big bet on Android, has stepped down as CEO. I would like to thank him for his efforts and am tremendously pleased that he will be working to ensure a smooth transition as long-time Googler Dennis Woodside takes over as CEO of Motorola Mobility.

Google has maintained it will keep Motorola operations separate from its own, mainly to appease Android partners that the new venture will get no preferential treatment. Assurances aside, there is little doubt there are a few uneasy partners with today's news.

It is not clear how Google will handle suddenly being a hardware company, given its history of software products and services. The low margin smartphone business doesn't fit with Google's other business, so it's anyone's guess how things might change in the future.

What Google keeps insisting is that we won't see the company take the Motorola product line and leverage controlling all aspects of the Android system as Apple does with iOS. We have pined for a solid Nexus line from the new Motorola/Google entity, but it doesn't look like that may happen anytime soon.

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