What Google Gobbling Motorola Mobility Means For The Way We Think About Smartphones

Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility means the people who decide what happens when you push a button on your smartphone will now also decide where that button goes. The same way Apple does. And RIM. And HP with WebOS.

It's a step toward making mobile devices synonymous their operating systems. We say, "I have an iPhone," and not, "I have an iPhone running iOS." With Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility, "I have a Google phone" might become a common phrase -- it certainly rolls off the tongue easier than, "I have a Motorola phone running Android." Especially if Google ever becomes the primary maker of Android smartphones and tablets. We're not quite there. And, in fact, the biggest consequence yet determined of Google's acquisition is whether handset makers such as Samsung, HTC, and others will choose to stick with Android and compete with Google's now in-house brand (Motorola Mobility). If not, they could develop their own, niche operating systems instead. Or, more likely, expand to Windows Mobile.