Google announced nine months ago it would expand its hardware business with the most expensive acquisition in its 14-year history.
Since 2005, Motorola has not produced anything that could hit mass market when it introduced Razr cellphone. According to Gartner, the company now ranks eighth with two per cent of the worldwide market share.
“It’s why I’m excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed. Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone,” Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement.
Page named Dennis Woodside, 43, as Motorola’s CEO in place of Sanjay Jha, 49.
Mr Woodside has background in online advertising, but now he oversees a company that specialises in making smartphones, tablet computers and cable-TV boxes, AP reported.
“It’s a bit concerning because online advertising is quite different than the hardware business,” Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “Google is so focused on advertising that it doesn’t consider that kind of thing.”
Google depends on digital ads for 96 percent of its revenue, which totalled $38 billion last year. Page praised Woodside in a statement as an outstanding leader who has “been phenomenal at building teams and delivering on some of Google’s biggest bets.”
