Back in January, Lenovo announced that it was going to buy Motorola Mobility from Google for $US2.91 billion. Now, the deal is signed and sealed.
While Motorola is now a Lenovo company — Hello Lenovo! — the brand will remain a subsidiary based out of Chicago. Rick Osterloh, Motorola’s president, said in a statement:
“The iconic Motorola brand will continue, as will the Moto and DROID franchises that have propelled our growth over the past year. We will continue to focus on pure Android and fast upgrades, and remain committed to developing technology to solve real consumer problems.”
Google bought Motorola for $US12.5 billion in 2012, at the time stating that it was interested in its patent portfolio. Now, Google maintains most of the patents and passes on the (finically troubled) handset business to Lenovo.
Given that Motorola did some of its finest work while Google was in possession of it — yep, the Moto X — it remains to be seen if it will still be awesome under the control of Lenovo. It’s already got a lead but, as we said earlier in the year, we just hope it manages to extend it. [Lenovo, Motorola]