Motorola Mobility

Motorola Mobility

Motorola Mobility LLC is an American telecommunications equipment corporation owned by Google and headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville, Illinois.

It was formerly Motorola's networks division, which was called the Personal Communication Section (PCS) prior to 2004. It pioneered the flip phone with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s. Motorola had a commanding lead in the analog cellphone market, but it was slow to embrace digital technology. By the turn of the 21st century, it produced another innovative hit product, the (original) Razr, a very thin flip phone. Most recently it has produced smartphones and tablets using the Google Android operating system. On January 4, 2011, the cellular division was spun off into a separate company as Motorola Mobility, while the remainder of the company was renamed Motorola Solutions, Inc.

On August 15, 2011, Google Inc. announced that it had agreed to acquire the company for US$12.5 billion. The acquisition included a sizeable portfolio of patents owned by Motorola. On February 13, 2012 Google received final approval from the United States Department of Justice and the European Union. On 19th May 2012, the People's Republic of China approved the merger also for $12.5 billion, making it the last major trading commission to approve the merger. The merger was completed on the 22 May 2012.