The news that Google is purchasing Motorola is big, huge, in fact. This will be the first time that Google has purchased a mobile company, and this could mean big losses for Android. On the flip side, it may mean that Android will soon take over the majority of the smartphone market – then again, the world has yet to see the new iPhone 5. Regardless, both Android users and Google are excited by the news that Motorola will become part of the Google family.

So, what does this mean for those who currently have Android phones? Well, it could mean a lot, or nothing at all. Judging by comments that Google made to press earlier today, the company doesn’t want to change the way that Android works. But, there are a lot of things that could happen with this acquisition.

Google Becomes Competitive

Prior to the acquisition, Google played nicely with all mobile device manufacturers. These manufacturers enjoyed supporting Android, since Google wasn’t any kind of direct competition. Now that Google has purchased Motorola, the company is in line to compete directly with mobile manufacturers.

Instead of supporting Android, mobile manufacturers may now decide to support Windows or any other platform that comes along. While Google has recently stated that the company hopes this type of incident will not occur, it’s hard to see how Google will not be in direct competition with mobile manufacturers.

Google to Sell Phones?

Buying Motorola means that Google will soon become a smartphone vendor. This is in stark contrast to the company that did not sell smartphone devices in the past. Not only will many smartphone manufacturers sit back and reconsider whether or not to support Android, but Google’s new decision may impact consumers as well.

Google has also stated that it intends to run Motorola as a completely separate company (as reported by Bloomberg). Separating the Android platform from Motorola is a wise idea that may just keep Google afloat.

That is, of course, if this separation can actually occur. But, there’s a better reason why Google has decided to purchase Motorola, and this reason has nothing to do with selling smartphones.

A Patent Struggle

Google wants to get its hands on certain patents. These patents were largely snatched up by Apple and Microsoft. When Microsoft snagged certain patents, Google began a long and fierce battle with the age-old company. Now that Google has purchased Motorola, the search giant can have a lot more footing in the patent world.

In short, Google can now play with the big boys. Are consumers likely to see many changes from the acquisition? Not really. Instead, Microsoft and Apple will bear the brunt of Google’s latest purchase.
So, what does this mean for the fun loving, free and open Android? For the time being, Google doesn’t plan to do anything different with Android.

It will, as the company stated, still be the open platform that it always was. The main difference now is that Google holds more cards than it did before.