Motorola Is Now the Apple of Google's Eye

Those who thought Google was buying Motorola Mobility just for its treasure trove of patents can think again. Its plan to focus on "fewer, bigger bets, and create wonderful devices that are used by people around the world" sounds rather like that of the competitor to beat.

Apple produces few products, but sells a lot of them. Google not only closed its $12.5 billion acquisition of the handset maker, it has also replaced most of the top executive team. Out are Motorola's chief executive, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, strategy chief, chief marketing officer and others. In are a team of replacements from Google itself as well as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Amazon, among other places. So, even if Google does follow through on its plan to run Motorola as a separate business, it is being Google-ized. Strategically, that is a smart move—after all, Apple has become the world's most valuable company by fusing its software and hardware expertise with the iPhone. But it isn't without risks.