Google to allow Motorola Mobility its own space

Google intends to allow its newly acquired Motorola Mobility to keep its autonomy as it battles in the hotly contested smartphone market, executives said Thursday. Google chief finance officer Patrick Pichette told the company's annual shareholder meeting that there is unlikely to be a integration of the mobile products firm. "It's important it stays on its own battlefield," he said. "We are not integrating Motorola with Google, we're making sure it has everything it needs to win in its own space. You shouldn't expect a full integration of the two companies." He added that the mobile products firm has "fantastic assets that need to be reset, reprioritized... and in that context think of Google in a way taking Motorola private." Google chairman Eric Schmidt said of the deal: "We bought Motorola for the sum of the patents, the products, the people, the innovation." Google completed the $12.9 billion deal last month for Motorola Mobility, a key manufacturer of smartphones and other devices that puts the Internet giant in head-to-head competition with Apple. The completion of the deal dubbed "Googorola" follows approval by Chinese, US and European regulators, amid concerns on restrictions for Android, a Google-created free operating system for mobile devices. Conditions from China's Ministry of Commerce included Google keeping its Android software for smartphones and tablet computers free and open for at least five years. Regulators in the United States and elsewhere have stressed that they will be watching to make sure that the Mountain View, California-based company does not use Motorola Mobility to obtain an unfair advantage in the market. Google acquires 17,000 patents with the purchase of Motorola Mobility and has been strengthening its patent portfolio in the fight for dominance in the booming smartphone and tablet market. Motorola Mobility was created in 2011 when US-based Motorola Inc. split the company into a mobile devices unit on the one hand, and a government and public safety division known as Motorola Solutions on the other.