Analysts concur – Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility makes a lot of sense, but Google risks alienating Android's staunchest allies with the deal.

 

Ovum analyst Tim Renowden says that, as well as bolstering its patent portfolio, the deal “brings Google significantly closer to Ovum’s hypothesis of a ‘managed device platform’ where a vendor controls all aspects of a platform, including hardware, software, content and online services.”

 

Research firm In-Stat similarly asserted that Google is aiming to address platform fragmentation and gain greater influence over the Android ecosystem. “By purchasing Motorola Mobility, Google can take control of the platform in a way that just wasn’t possible before,” the firm states.

 

Its own hardware capabilities could also potentially allow Google to better compete directly against Apple, InStat added.

 

Gartner research vice president Phillip Redman notes the deal has “changed the mobile handset market forever, with names like RIM, Nokia and Motorola no longer driving the market, but for the foreseeable future, Apple and Google.”

 

The benefits of Google's planned purchase don't just extend to Android. InStat points out that Motorola Mobility's set-top-box division will eventually provide opportunities to develop the less-than-successful Google TV venture.

 

But the pundits also agree that Google will need to tread carefully to avoid making enemies out of its Android ecosystem allies.

 

“Now that Google is a hardware manufacturer, the relationship that it has with its other hardware-manufacturing partners is sure to change,” InStat notes, adding. “Will Google add tweaks to Android to give it a strategic advantage over its partners? Even if the answer is no, the suspicions might be present.”