Google On The Hunt Again

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With companies like Apple and Microsoft paying billions of dollars in patenting licenses, it's no surprise that Google wants a piece of the action. The juggernaut internet and technology company has it's eyes on a new company, Motorola. Matt Richtel and Jenna Wortham discuss more in their article from the New York Times Technology Section:

Hundreds of framed patents hang on two separate walls at the headquarters of Motorola Mobility in Libertyville, Ill. They testify to the pride in innovation at Motorola, a luminary of American business that has survived corporate crises and enormous technological change.

But the company has never grappled with something like this: a murky future governed by Google, a powerful master with unclear intentions.

In announcing its planned $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility last week, Google emphasized its interest in the company’s rich trove of 17,000 patents. That portfolio would allow Google to defend itself against foes like Apple and Microsoft in the legal arena, where billions of dollars in patent licensing fees can be indirectly negotiated through lawsuits and countersuits.

But while industry analysts and insiders say the rationale makes sense, they also say it leaves Motorola in an unusual position. Many acquisitions are aimed at creating some well-articulated synergy between the two companies, but Motorola’s future role in this union — beyond patent warehouse — is unclear.

Heightening the uncertainty is that the companies involved, both of which declined to comment, are in some ways as different as two technology companies can be. Google makes Internet services and software, thrives on high profit margins and distributes its product using giant data centers. Motorola makes hardware, has modest margins on a good day and moves its products on trucks and airplanes and through brick-and-mortar stores.

Read more at New York Times Technology