Facts about Google’s acquisition of Motorola

Google + Motorola: What people are saying

Android partners

J.K. Shin, President
Samsung, Mobile Communications Division
“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.”

Bert Nordberg
President & CEO, Sony Ericsson
“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”

Peter Chou
CEO, HTC Corp.
“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.”

“This acquisition is more to enhance Google's patent portfolio, to support us, to protect us, so this is good news. [...] Google has made very, very clear its commitment to HTC remains unchanged.” (WSJ)

Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D
President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
“We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”

Ken Hong
LG spokesman
“We will continue [to] support the Android operating system, and we have no concerns about the changes in the Android environment.” (MarketWatch)

Weili Dai
Co-founder, Marvell Technology Group
“We are positive towards Google’s continued commitment and investment in an open Android for the benefit of all players in the ecosystem.”

Brian J. Dunn
CEO, Best Buy
“Best Buy has worked closely with both Google and Motorola to bring great solutions to our customers. Now, with today’s news, we are excited to see what we can do together to serve consumers. Both companies have been tremendous partners to Best Buy and we expect that connection to get even stronger in the future.”

He Shiyou
EVP of ZTE Corporation and Board Directors, President of ZTE Mobile Devices Division
“We are pleased to know that Google is making a move to strengthen Google’s (and thereby Android’s) patent portfolio. ZTE welcomes this step from Google to protect the value of Android ecosystem and the benefit of Android partners.”

Jonney Shih
CEO, ASUS
“ASUS is a strong supporter of Android and we firmly believe in Google’s recent strategy. Their continued investment in innovation allows leading companies like ASUS to deliver superior user experiences.”

George He
SVP & CTO, Lenovo
“We are supportive of Google’s strategy to continue investing in and innovating with Android.”

J.T. Wang
CEO, Acer
“Acer is a leading Android partner and we agree with Google’s strategy to ensure Android's continued growth. The innovation enabled by Android as a free open-source mobile platform will benefit Acer and our customers.”

John Thorne
Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Verizon
“…To the extent that this deal might bring some stability to the ongoing smartphone patent disputes, that would be a welcome development.” (All Things Digital)

Yves Maitre
Senior Vice President, France Telecom Orange
“I believe it is always good to have very strong players and very integrated ones. We welcome strong competitors to Apple, and Motorola and Google will be this type of very strong competitor.” (All Things Digital)

Competition experts

Ed Black
President and Chief Executive, Computer & Communications Industry Association
“That [partner] support signals that other device makers believe Google wants to protect and grow its Android business — and see Android used on as many mobile devices as possible — rather than restrict access to the platform.” (AP via ABC News)

David Balto
Former FTC antitrust official and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress
““If anything, antitrust regulators may see the deal as a boost to competition. Android is such a crucial competitor to the iPhone in particular, that allowing Google to buy Motorola Mobility will likely produce even more innovation in smartphones and other devices.” (AP via ABC News)

Eleanor Fox
Antitrust Professor, New York University School of Law
“One way to look at this is, how is Microsoft going to complain? How is Apple going to complain? What are they going to want?...In order to have a consent decree, they are going to have to find an anticompetitive angle.” (CNET)

Herbert Hovenkamp
Professor of Law, University of Iowa
“The likely concern regulators would have is that Google will vertically integrate its Android software with Motorola's hardware and attempt to shut out other hardware manufacturers, such as Samsung Electronics Co and HTC Corp, that license Google's software. But because Android is an open source software, that's unlikely to happen. "It's not clear to me how you can turn an open source software into an exclusionary device." (Reuters)

Developers

Dave Swartz
Co-founder, MEDL Mobile
“This is a great move for Google to get into the hardware side. It stands to help developers a lot.” (NYT)

Mike Voka
Android Engineer, GroupMe
“I’m hoping that this is the push that really changes the whole game. It would be a huge advantage if the software was more consistent.” (NYT)