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China's Ministry of Commerce approved Google's $12.5 billionpurchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings over the weekend oncondition that Google's Android smartphone operating system willremain free and open to all handset makers over the next fiveyears. "Given Google's dominant position in the smartphone operatingsystem sector, it might treat Motorola favorably after theacquisition, such as provide the new operating system first toMotorola which will hurt competition in the market and put otherhandset makers in a disadvantaged position," said the ministryon Saturday. By attaching strings to the approval, "the Chinese governmentaims to provide support to domestic smartphone producers since mostsmartphones produced in China are powered by the Androidsystem," Li Yi, secretary-general of the China Mobile InternetIndustry Alliance, told the Global Times yesterday. Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson said that theyexpect to close the deal early this week, according to a Reutersreport Saturday. Google announced the acquisition of Motorola in August, a dealexpected to bring Google some 17,000 patents to protect Androidhandsets from legal disputes with rivals such as Apple Inc. The deal got approvals from the European and US regulators inFebruary. China's approval was the last regulatory hurdle for theworld's top Internet search engine to develop its own line ofsmartphones. According to Chinese anti-monopoly law, if a foreign company'sacquisition could hurt competition in the Chinese market, Chineseauthorities' approval will be needed in order to complete the deal. Google's Android system had a 73.99 percent share in the Chinesesmartphone market by the end of 2011, followed by Nokia's Symbiansystem, which had a 12.53 percent share and Apple's iOS with 10.67percent share, the ministry said. Li further noted that it is very likely that Google's Androidsystem will no longer be free after five years now that the companyhas its owns smartphone products and it is also likely to developAndroid into a system that is exclusive to its own handsets. "Profits of Chinese handset makers will be further squeezed ifthe Android system is no longer free; after all most domestichandset producers focus on mid- and low-end handsets that arepriced around 1,000 yuan ($158.03)," said Li. Shen Zheyi, research director of mobile devices and consumerservices at research firm Gartner, told the Global Times that it ispossible that Google will give priority to Motorola after theacquisition. I am an expert from steelrollcage.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Custom Roll Cage , Wire Mesh Container, Folding Rolling Carts,and more.
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