By far its biggest acquisition to date, Google's agreement to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion has set off a wave of speculation and conspiracy theories.
"In a nutshell,
[Google CEO Larry] Page is betting on mobility as the future of computing," writes ZDNet.
"Either Google really wants to get into the
Android manufacturing business -- putting it into direct competition with Apple ... Or Google really wants the 17,000 patents and 7,000 patents pending that Motorola has assembled over the
years," Fortune writes.
"Across the world, there are
Android-based original equipment managers that feel like they just got punched in the stomach," suggests ReadWriteWeb. "No matter how benevolent the companies make it sound,
[Google's entry into the hardware supply chain] is a huge wave that will have ripple affects across the entire mobile ecosystem."
"No matter how Google spins this [deal], it
really flies in the face of the Open Handset Alliance, currently composed of 84 technology companies," writes GigaOm. "The OHA implies that partners will work together to create a better mobile
experience, even though they actually do compete every day."
Either way, "This is a game-changer in the mobile world, as Google moves down the stack, and is no longer just an
operating system provider," writes Business Insider.
"Nobody saw this coming," Fast Company writes.
Foreseen or not, however,
"It is certain to attract significant antitrust scrutiny," insists The New York
Times, adding, "The Federal Trade Commission is already investigating Google's dominance in several areas of its business."
Yet, "Google's aims to fix multiple
lingering wireless issues [with the agreement] is just crazy enough to work," ZDNet adds, before laying out six reasons why the would-be deal makes sense.