It was just back in early 2012 that Google acquired the Motorola Mobility smartphone business for about $12.5BN to create a “stronger patent portfolio for Google and great smartphone for users”, said by Larry Page, Google CEO. Other than taking advantage of Motorola’s patents to enrich Android ecosystem, this collaboration over the past months resulted in to two great devices, Moto X and Moto G, which the former received many appreciations due to its features, focusing on life-style rather than just hardware and customization options, and the latter was known as one of the best Android devices considering its extremely low price.
But from today, according to a new agreement reached between Google and Lenovo, Motorola Mobility will be acquired by the Chinese part for only $2.91 Billion which $660m in cash and $750m in stock will be paid at closing, and the remaining $1.5 billion as a three-year promissory note.
According to the deal, Lenovo keeps Motorola’s brand identity for the newer devices and other than receiving the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio, Lenovo gets a hold of over 2,000 patent assets belong to the Motorola. Google as the other party will also get to keep Motorola Mobility patent portfolio, including current patent applications and invention disclosures.
According to the latest statistics provided by IDC, Lenovo was responsible for the 4.5% of total 1,004.2million devices shipped during 2013, which makes the company the number 5 in the list of top smartphone vendors and we are guessing this new agreement helps Lenovo to extend its territory and get itself closer to the Samsung and Apple as the dominant smartphone manufacturers.
So, who is the winner in this deal? Is it Google, or Lenovo, or Motorola? Or is it a win-win game for all the parties?
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