Google has just announced that they will acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (or more commonly known as just Motorola). Google will be paying $40 per share, which means a total of about $12.5 billion. That is 63% more than what was Motorola's closing price on Friday, August 12. 

Motorola has been selling Android phones since the late 2009, so the Android platform is familiar for them. Google states that the goal of this acquisition is to enhance the Android platform as a whole in order to provide better user experience. Motorola will remain as an independent business, meaning that the Motorola brand is not going anywhere. Also, Android will remain open for other manufacturers. 

It appears that this is Google's try to fight against Apple and iOS. One of Apple's biggest advantages has been the control of both software and hardware. Google has Nexus but the sales have been fairly low, which might indicate that the hardware has not been top notch. Motorola, on the other hand, has been in the hardware business for years, so maybe with Motorola's hardware skills, Google will be able to come up with a revolutionary smartphone. 

Source: BusinessWire