While Google executives said this week that Android handset manufacturers will be treated equally even though the company is acquiring Motorola, the possibility remains that OEMs will take a closer look at other operating systems.

Google entered into a definitive agreement yesterday to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Motorola, which is a dedicated Android partner, will be run as a separate business with Google insisting the deal will boost the Android ecosystem and drive innovation.

?It?s no secret that Web usage is increasingly shifting to mobile devices ? a trend I expect to continue,? said Larry Page, CEO of Google, during a conference call to discuss the deal.

?With mobility continuing to take center stage in the computing revolution, the combination with Motorola is an extremely important event in Google?s continuing evolution that will drive a lot of improvements in our ability to deliver great user experiences,? he said.

"It really allows us to recharge the whole Android ecosystem."

The Apple formula
Android will remain an open system and Motorola will continue as a licensee of Android, according to Google.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

While offering Android as an open system at little or no cost to license has been an important factor in its growth, the deal with Motorola points to the success of the Apple formula of owning the entire mobile experience.

?The most successful players in the smartphone market have been those who control the entire experience ? from platform, to hardware to services,? said Kevin Burden, vice president and practice director for mobile devices at ABI Research, New York.

?Only Microsoft remains as the only mobile platform provider without direct ownership of a hardware arm that designs and produces mobile phones,? he said.

Buying a handset manufacturer gives Google a similar degree of control over Android that Apple has with iOS.

Conceivably, the deal with Motorola means that Android will now go into smartphones that bear Google?s own seal of approval and can be marketed as the gold standard for Android, per Mr. Burden.

While Google says it will continue to treat other handset manufacturers equally despite having acquired Motorola, there are advantages to be gained from Google and Motorola working together in some areas.

?There are a lot of challenges that Android has faced in terms of apps, such as getting consumers to buy into paying for downloads, having high enough quality apps to rival iPhone?s and getting them in a reasonable amount of time,? said Josh Martin, senior analyst for WMS at Strategy Analytics, Newton, MA.

Many of these challenges stem from the fact that Google is developing Android without firsthand knowledge of what is happening on the handset side, per Mr. Martin.

?Google has not been building functionality for Android in conjunction with evolutionary hardware,? Mr. Martin said. ?If you combine the power of Motorola, then they can create use cases, interfaces and APIs that would take advantage of pending hardware - this could overcome some of the challenges that Android faces.?

Android partners
Such a boost to the Android ecosystem could benefit all handset manufacturers.

However, all may not see it that way.

?With Google having its own handset maker and a big partner in Android under its own roof, it?s not clear how Google will be able to offer the same level of partnership with other handset manufacturers and for Motorola not to have an inside track that others don?t have,? said Noah Elkin, principal analyst at eMarketer, New York.

It likely will not be clear how this will play out until the first devices under the new partnership become available.

And, even if Motorola does wind up with a competitive advantage, it might not make much of a difference.

?Will some of its OEMs deemphasize their commitment to Android now that Google is taking a competitive position against them?? ABI Research?s Mr. Burden said.

?However, there are not many other places to go,? he said. ?Windows Phone isn?t any more attractive given the Microsoft Nokia tie-up.

?But potentially, key OEM?s like Samsung, could explore other options ? it appears to be talking to HP about webOS.?

If Google does try to insure that Motorola does not have a competitive advantage, then it loses an important potential benefit from the deal, per Strategy Analytics? Mr. Martin.

It is also not clear how the deal will benefit Android as it goes up against the iPhone in the growing smartphone market.

?A phone that comes out of this deal does have the potential to compete head on with iPhone from a functional standpoint, but it will still be just one of many Android based devices on the market competing with the iPhone model Apple leads with at that moment,? Mr. Burden said.

?The new Nexus will be marketed as the gold standard of an Android phone, but Motorola will only be in the running to make that phone,? he said. ?There is no guarantee that it gets the deal from Google, despite being owned by Google.?

Home run
Google also faces some challenges by moving into the hardware business. 

Part of Apple?s success it that Apple is such a good retailer, per eMarketer?s Mr. Elkin.

?That side of the business is not something that Google has any experience with? Mr. Elkin said.

?Marketing and selling handsets directly to consumers and enterprise is not something you can just start doing and assume that you can do successfully.?

Another aspect of this deal is that Google possible gains a more effective route into the home.

Google?s CEO suggested as much during the conference call to discuss the deal, saying that the deal provides an opportunity to accelerate innovation in the home business by working together with the cable and telecommunications industries.

?This could boost Google TV, which hasn?t made as much of a dent in the market as Google would have hoped,? Mr. Elkin said. ?The living room is something that every electronics maker wants to crack.?

Another reason for the deal, as described by Google, is Motorola?s extensive patent portfolio.

Patents are playing a bigger role in the mobile space these days, with companies use them ? and the threat of patent infringement lawsuits ? to gain a competitive edge.

?If Motorola?s intellectual property, when combined with the IP from Google, proves to be what is needed to effectively defend the platform in legal challenges, and is what was needed to get Google off the sidelines and more involved in the defense, the investment will be worth it for more than just Google,? Mr. Burden said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York