Google made a somewhat surprising announcement today: they intend to buy Motorola's mobile phone division. The purchase price is expected to be 12.5 billion US dollars, and the deal is to be completed by the end of the year, subject to the approval of the relevant authorities. Of course, Google hopes that this will primarily improve its position in the patent disputes over Android, but it will also enable it to produce its own mobile phones.
Like Golem reported, Google has informed the five largest manufacturers of Android devices in advance - they are said to have responded positively to the deal, because in practice, no competitor will join the deal. By the time Google actually launches a completely self-developed mobile phone on the market, the second half of 2012 should be reached. Nevertheless, it is good that another player is now appearing on the mobile phone market that can really offer both hardware and software from a single source. Otherwise, only Apple and Microsoft/Nokia.
So it remains exciting to see how the mobile/smartphone market will develop - Apple will first present its iPhone 5, before Nokia's Windows Phones will be launched.
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