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"Google chief executive Larry Page has announced the completion of the firm&amp;#039;s $12.5bn (\u00A37.9bn) acquisition of smartphone maker Motorola Mobility, and said that it is a &amp;quot;great time to be in the mobile business&amp;quot;. After the US search giant got final regulatory clearance from Chinese authorities on the weekend, it was able to complete the deal that was first announced last August.  Acquiring Motorola Mobility gives Google an infrastructure to start manufacturing its own smartphones and tablet devices, going head to head with Apple&amp;#039;s iOS devices and also handsets running Google&amp;#039;s own Android platform. The deal also gives Google more than 17,000 valuable Motorola patents for it to earn royalties and defend itself and other Android phone makers from patent lawsuits.  Despite being allowed to complete the deal, Google has been told that it must keep the Android mobile operating system free for other device makers, such as Samsung and HTC, for up to five years, in order to safeguard competition. In a post on Google&amp;#039;s official blog today, Page described Motorola as a &amp;quot;great American company that has driven the mobile revolution&amp;quot;.  &amp;quot;The phones in our pockets have become supercomputers that are changing the way we live. It&amp;#039;s now possible to do things we used to think were magic, or only possible on Star Trek-like get directions right from where we are standing; watch a video on YouTube; or take a picture and share the moment instantly with friends,&amp;quot; he said.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s why I&amp;#039;m excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed. Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. &amp;quot;We all remember Motorola&amp;#039;s StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. And as a company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google.&amp;quot; Page confirmed that Motorola Mobility chief executive Sanjay Jha - who made that &amp;quot;early bet&amp;quot; on Android - has stepped down and will be replaced by Dennis Woodside. Google veteran Woodside built up the firm&amp;#039;s business in Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia, but more recently acted as president of the Americas region. Page expressed his confidence that Woodside and his new team will help create the &amp;quot;next generation&amp;quot; of mobile devices, hinting that mobile payments technology will play a big part in Google&amp;#039;s strategy.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a well known fact that people tend to overestimate the impact technology will have in the short term, but underestimate its significance in the longer term,&amp;quot; he said.  &amp;quot;Many users coming online today may never use a desktop machine, and the impact of that transition will be profound - as will the ability to just tap and pay with your phone. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s why it&amp;#039;s a great time to be in the mobile business, and why I&amp;#039;m confident Dennis and the team at Motorola will be creating the next generation of mobile devices that will improve lives for years to come.&amp;quot; &amp;gt; Google &amp;#039;working on 7-inch tablet computer&amp;#039; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/android/news/a383002/google-completes-motorola-mobility-acquisition/>