San Francisco ( CNN ) -- While Google waits for regulatory approval on its bid to acquire Motorola Mobility , company executives have repeatedly worked to assuage partners ' fears that the Android software developer is preparing to compete with them . Partners in Google 's mobile-phone venture were understandably skeptical when the Android maker said this summer that it planned to acquire one of their rivals , creating a potential reason to roll out improvements to its popular smartphone operating system on Motorola phones before offering them to others . Google has offered free and open-source versions of Android to anyone ambitious enough to download it and tinker with the code . Dozens of smartphone and tablet makers have taken Google up on this , and have come to rely on it for their businesses . Google , which assured them it is focused on software , not hardware , seemed like a logical partner . Then , when the company 's intentions to buy Motorola surfaced , Google execs said they were mainly doing so in order to protect themselves and their partners against patent litigation . ( Motorola has about 24,000 patents either approved or pending ) . The $ 12.5 billion acquisition still has not cleared federal oversight , and so Google has not been talking publicly much about its plans . A spokesman declined to comment on the matter last week . Since CNN 's inquiries , Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has been discussing some plans for Motorola on a three-city tour of Asia this week . He told an audience in South Korea on Tuesday that the acquisition will `` not change in any material way the way we operate , '' and then told a group in Taipei , Taiwan , on Wednesday that Google plans to continue providing legal defenses to Android partners , according to Reuters . Sony Ericsson CTO Jan Uddenfeldt said at a conference last week that Google still maintains it is buying Motorola primarily for the patent portfolio of one of the world 's oldest mobile-phone companies . `` The last thing they would like to happen is to create a vertical , because that would destroy the market share for Android , '' he said onstage at the Open Mobile Summit here on Thursday . Google led the market in the most recent quarter , thanks in part to wide adoption by many companies , with 43 % of smartphone owners using Android phones , according to research firm Nielsen . Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion operate vertical businesses in which they maintain and control their own hardware and software . In the nearly three months since announcing a bid for Motorola , the strategy to remain a neutral player `` has been clearly communicated to us by Google , and it makes sense , '' Uddenfeldt said in an interview . `` We are an all-Android company now , '' Uddenfeldt said . `` We do not hesitate to be an Android company . '' Even with Motorola 's help , Google could struggle to transition from a software developer to bringing hardware products to market , Uddenfeldt said . `` Google is a great software company , but they are not a consumer brand , '' he said . Google has suggested that it plans to leverage Motorola 's hardware expertise in order to understand how to integrate software more closely with hardware , Kevin Packingham , the senior vice president for Samsung Electronics products , said in an interview . Patents are perhaps secondary in terms of how the acquisition will benefit partners , he said . `` I would n't say that it 's black and white about wanting to be vertical , '' Packingham said . `` Google needs the capability to understand how to deeply integrate with the hardware . '' That could turn Motorola , a storied mobile innovator , into a glorified research-and-development arm . In the meantime , Motorola is laying off 800 of its 19,000 workers , and the company is preparing to launch the Droid Razr , the spiritual successor to one of the most popular phones of the last decade . Not surprisingly , the new version runs on Android . Even more so than Motorola , Samsung has been very close with Google over the last two years . The pair has twice partnered for what 's called the `` lead device program , '' in which Google and a hardware maker collaborate on the first product that will run a major new version of Android . Together , they developed the Nexus S and the upcoming Galaxy Nexus . Google has also worked with HTC for the Nexus One and Motorola for the Xoom tablet . Being chosen as the lead-device partner is a competitive advantage , Packingham said , because the company gets direct access to Google engineers and to Android code before rivals . Samsung expects to continue to work with Google on some lead devices in the future , he said . Andy Rubin , Google 's head of mobile , said during a Google conference call in August announcing the Motorola acquisition that the new unit will be run as an independent business . As for preferential treatment regarding lead devices , Rubin said Motorola `` will be part of that bidding process . '' According to Packingham , Samsung was chosen for two of the three Nexus phones because of its hardware expertise and access to components , and there is no bidding involved in the lead-device program . The Google spokesman declined to comment on how exactly the process works .
Google 's mobile partners say the Android maker wo n't be like Google . They say Google has no plans to become a ` ` vertical '' Android maker . Google has said it plans to run Android as an independent business .