Google's Motive

Understanding the purpose of Motorola's acquisition can also be derived from understanding why Google offloaded it to Lenovo. In its own website, Google listed two benefits from the deal for acquiring the company: (1) Google and Motorola would accelerate innovation in mobile computing and (2) Motorola's patent portfolio would protect the Android's ecosystem. Selling of Motorola but retaining all of its patents, Google's main true purpose appears to be the latter. Because this was the main reason for its acquisition, Google's quick turn around to sell Motorola is not surprising. A large portion of Google's current success with Android has been the system's ability to be on multiple devices. Google needs to signal that it is not closing off the relationships that it has formed with its hardware partners. Furthermore, Android also wants to remain an open platform to all developers and device manufacturers, making owning Motorola almost redundant for Google. Meanwhile, the Lenovo deal hopes to retain Motorola for other purposes. Lenovo has been a company that favors expanding through acquisition. Growing through the PC, largely in the Chinese market, Lenovo is hoping to expand into manufacturing mobile devices, something Google is not as interested in. Therefore, this new deal is actually a better match for Lenovo will take itself to whole new level with Motorola. Yet, with still retaining Motorola's patents, Google may have something brewing in store that we are not aware of.