Android rivals could benefit from Google's Motorola Mobility buy

Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility could have an impact far beyond the Android ecosystem, according to industry analysts, who believe that Nokia's business will pick up, while RIM could find itself the target of an acquisition.

Google announced yesterday that it will buy the Motorola Mobility unit for $12.5bn.

Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, told V3 that Nokia will benefit because Google's decision to acquire an Android hardware vendor will lure phone makers to Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, which is closely tied to Nokia.

By moving to Windows Phone early, Nokia may find itself with a competitive advantage over other vendors, the analyst believes.

"Nokia benefits because Microsoft's Windows Phone suddenly looks like a much more viable operating system," said Greengart. "There is no question that the phones in Redmond are ringing off the hook now."

RIM will also be affected by the deal. Patent holdings are said to have played a part in Google's decision to acquire Motorola Mobility, and speculation on the value of RIM's patents helped the company's stock to climb by 9.4 per cent.

Ken Dulaney, vice president of mobility at Gartner, told V3 that the Google acquisition could prompt a hardware vendor such as Amazon to acquire RIM at a knock-down price.

However, Dulaney noted that any company looking to buy RIM would have to absorb its sagging hardware business, which could greatly limit the field of potential suitors.

There could be interest in RIM's intellectual property holdings, but Dulaney and Greengart do not see RIM following Nokia's lead and gaining in the mobile market as a result of the Google deal.

The analysts said that RIM's efforts to re-establish its hardware lines and transition to the QNX platform will far outweigh any impact from the Google acquisition.