Lenovo Buys Motorola Mobility- Google Keeps Skunkworks Division

So Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility from Google. Why is everyone getting on Google for selling it? Motorola Mobility had been bleeding money since acquired by Google, so it only makes sense to move on and part ways.

Lenovo is paying about $2.91 billion for Motorola: $660 million in cash, $750 million worth of Lenovo stock, and $1.5 billion in the form of a three-year promissory note. Lenovo gets the Motorola brand and current and future products, such as the Moto X and G smartphones. Google is keeping the patents it received when it initially bought Motorola, but Lenovo does get licenses for them.

Now we should make it quite clear, Google only sold off Motorola Mobility. Google still retains ownership of Motorola’s Skunkworks division of R&D – Project Ara and ATAP (Advanced Technology and Products Group). In a nutshell, Google bought Motorola, kept the patents and such it wanted, and sold the hardware bit to Lenovo.

Is Lenovo’s acquisition of Motorola a smart move? I think so. Lenovo makes some very good products that are known for their dependability. Lenovo is also very good about updates and getting bugs stomped out in a timely fashion on their current devices. This should play well along with Motorola’s lightly skinned resurgence of Android smartphones like the X and G. Motorola has been taking a much more minimalist approach to what they change from Google’s stock Android than they used to. This is why they have been very quick to get OTA updates out on the X, G, and Droid phones. Put those two together, and it should make for a very good partnership.

Should we, as enthusiasts, fear the deal that occurred today? We shouldn’t. Google seems to have been very aware of who they were selling Motorola to and have complete faith that Lenovo can make Motorola the dominant player, or at very least, a very prominent player in the smartphone industry.

As I mentioned, ATAP (Advanced Technology and Products Group) and Project Ara are both staying with Google. As some of you may have heard, know, or even be a part of Project Ara ( I am), may be concerned with what this deal means for the future of the project.

Well I bring you good news. Earlier I tweeted Daniel Makoski, Chief Designer of ATAP, this very question. His response was most pleasing:

@luvsparades it will only impact Project Ara for the better Sean. will share more next week as to why.

— Daniel Makoski (@mak0ski) January 29, 2014

Now I don’t know about you, but I am very excited and overly eager to hear what news may be coming down the pike from these guys. The project so far has been a lot of fun and somewhat a challenge. It will be nice to see it to fruition.

This is going to be a long week to wait for answers, but hey… it’s been worth it so far. Let us know your thoughts on Motorola, Lenovo, or Project Ara below in the comments.

 

Source: Google

Image Credits: Motorola