• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, August 16, 2011

As further fallout from Google's plan to buy Motorola Mobility, Bloomberg suggests that Research In Motion has the most to lose from the deal. It would leave the BlackBerry maker "a smaller player relative to rivals, which may force it to strike an alliance with another company or sell itself to remain competitive," Bloomberg writes, citing comments from Will Stofega, a program director at consultant IDC.

According to Stofega, with Google's cash and software expertise, Motorola may present a direct challenge to RIM in its traditional stronghold, i.e., the corporate market. "Now that Motorola has a big war chest behind them, Research In Motion has got to watch out," Stofega told Bloomberg.

On the other hand, "Both Microsoft and Nokia believe that [Google's agreement to buy Motorola Mobility] should create new opportunities for the Windows Phone platform and for their partnership," Softpedia writes.

Taking the argument a step further, some analysts are suggesting a Google-Motorola deal could drive Microsoft to purchase Nokia or RIM, reports eWeek. Whether such a deal makes sense remains an option question.

Meanwhile, "the deal leaves Google in a very awkward position of being half-pregnant and trying to be a provider of an open source ‘environment' while at the same time competing with its ‘customers,'" writes Forrester analyst John McCarthy.

Still, "the service providers may have to grin and bear it if Google starts to design future versions of Android around Motorola or favor its own device maker with software updates," writes Computerworld, citing analyst opinion.