Google has announced that it will be acquiring Motorola Mobility in order to “ Supercharge Android, Enhance Competition, and Offer Wonderful User Experiences”. The search giant and Motorola Mobility entered into a definitive agreement, under which Google will acquire the Android smartphone and tablet maker for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of around $12.5 billion. This transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

This latest acquisition will not change Google’s commitment to have its Android
mobile operating system (OS) as an open platform. Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page stated in a blogpost that Android will remain open and that Motorola will remain a licensee of the popular mobile OS.

“We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences,” Page said.

Another strong motivation for this purchase is the strengthening of Google’s patent portfolio, to make it more effective as a shield against patent lawsuits from the likes of Apple and Microsoft. Google recently decided to take a stand on the patent lawsuit issue, in light of what it deems to be an outright attack on Android by some of its main competitors.

Google said that aggressive competition for global mobile OS domination has resulted in “a hostile, organised campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents.”

According to David Drummond, Google senior VP and chief legal officer, the aim of these companies is to make Android devices more expensive for consumers and consequently less desirable because of it. This means that they want to compete with Android not in the marketplace by offering better products, but in the courts via lawsuits or patent agreements.

“Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies,” Page explained.

In related news, screenshots of what appears to be the next version of Google’s Android mobile OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, have surfaced in the tech wild and Google+ gaming has gone live.