COMPETITION : GOOGLE SELLS MOTOROLA BUT KEEPS PATENTS.

Google created a splash with its 30 January announcement of its sale of Motorola to the Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo for US$2.91 billion, after spending US$12.5 billion to buy it in 2012 . The decline of Motorola's global market share has continued, shrinking from 3.1% to 1.7% under Google's ownership, despite restructuring measures (in particular the sale of the set-top boxes division to Arris for US$2.3 billion). It was costing Google US$200-300 million dollars every quarter, so the haemorrhage had to be stopped.

"The smart phone market is super-competitive and to thrive it helps to be all-in," explained Google Director Larry Page. "Motorola will be better served by Lenovo, which has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola into a major player within the Android ecosystem."

For the search engine giant, the acquisition of Motorola was meant to secure 17,000 essential patents in the mobile telecommunications sector in response to attacks against 'its' mobile operating system, Android. It will obviously keep the bulk of this treasure for itself, selling only 2,000 patents to Lenovo and issuing licences for the others.

This sale takes a thorn out of Google's side because the alliance with a hardware manufacturer put it in an awkward position with respect to other Android makers like Nokia and Samsung. It recently signed a licensing agreement with the Korean firm to clarify the legal aspects in terms of...