Google-Motorola deal draws questions

The day after Google announced a $12.5 billion cash deal to buy Motorola Mobility, Silicon Valley and Wall Street questioned the value of the move -- as the initial glow surrounding the bold combination dimmed amid concerns about the challenges ahead.

The strongest skepticism came from Standard & Poor's, which on Tuesday downgraded Google stock in part over concerns that the biggest deal in Google's history would take longer than expected to close, and that Motorola's more than 17,000 patents would not adequately protect Google's Android mobile software from a barrage of intellectual property challenges from such rivals as Apple, Microsoft and Oracle. "I'm not disputing (the Motorola patents) will help protect Android, but the way people seem to be looking at the company and its actions yesterday is that Android is now all clear when it comes to IP issues, and that clearly, in our opinion, is not the case," said Scott Kessler, information technology analyst for Standard & Poor's Equity Research, which downgraded Google to "sell" from "buy." Other Wall Street analysts did not follow suit in downgrading Google stock, but some raised questions about the deal's risks and complexity, or lowered their long-range price targets for Google stock. One possibility, analysts said, is that Google will use Motorola to put out a few high-quality phones and tablets to compete with Apple's iPhones and iPads, technology that could be shared with other phone-makers that use Android.