That’s at $40.00 per share in cash, which is a 63% premium to the closing price of the stock as of last Friday. This completely changes the smartphone landscape. Google was “just” the software side of the equation with Android, but now it’s invested into the hardware side too. As a result, it may have gained that “complete end-to-end stack” advantage that Apple has held to date. To be fair, RIM has that “advantage” too and it hasn’t been so hot lately.

With Google buying Motorola, we could start to see some sticky situations with other Android handset makers like HTC and Samsung. The acquisition lends itself to one hand paying the other. The Nexus One was made by HTC and the Nexus S is made by Samsung… but now are we to assume that the next Nexus phone will necessarily be a Motorola creation?

Considering that the big G will still have over $20 billion in cash remaining after this deal, maybe they’re not done shopping just yet…

The post Google set to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The total deal sounds like it is worth $39 billion with about $25 billion coming in way of cash and the remaining $14 billion in company stock. That gives Deutsche Telekom, the current parent company of T-Mobile USA, about an eight percent stake in the now significantly larger AT&T. Combined, they expect to earn nearly $80 billion per year.

Forgetting for a moment about the convoluted past of AT&T (being split up only to recombine again), we are left asking what is going to happen to the two GSM networks. T-Mobile uses AWS 1700 bands for its 3G service and AT&T does not. Based on some comments on HoFo, it sounds reasonable that the bigger firm will essentially combine the two 3G networks into a mega-network, not unlike what Rogers did when it acquired Fido. This should help with the already congested AT&T network.

Also, it will create pressure on manufacturers to make more pentaband chips, which may or may not be good for consumers. It does help for Canadian importers, though, since you can import one phone and have it work on both Wind/Mobilicity and Rogers/Telus/Bell. And let’s not forget about their LTE plans moving forward too.

It’ll be interesting to see how the federal governing bodies rule on this deal. Could we see a mega-AT&T only to see it split up (again)… only to see it recombine (again). Makes you think of T-1000, doesn’t it?

The post AT&T to Buy T-Mobile, Creating Pentaband Network? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

What’s all this mean? Intel plans to step up to smartphone production in a big way. Their acquisition of the Infineon’s Wireless Solutions (WLS) business will recover their ability to produce complete end-to-end solutions for smartphones. Once owners of their very own communication chips, Intel sold this portion of their business to Marvell back in 2006. That may have been the best move for them at the time, however now in a world of iPads and iPhone 4s with Infineon technology tucked inside, to compete with Qualcomm and ST-Ericsson Intel will need the ability to develop FM, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth products all in one, the complete smartphone package.

“The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an extraordinary rate. The acquisition of Infineon’s WLS (Wireless Solutions) business strengthens the second pillar of our computing strategy–Internet connectivity–and enables us to offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMax and LTE (4G).” Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a statement.

Alongside wireless, Infineon manufacturers automobile logic chips, machines and in security solutions, such as passports. They have no immediate plans to sell off any remaining divisions of their company.

Intel’s move appears to strengthen the fact that the PC market is on shaky ground, evolution of their company is a requirement, and Intel has no problem making the necessary changes. It’s a smartphone world, and Intel wants to be inside.

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The rumors come by way of Business Insider and an “off-the-record” dinner. Starting with Apple, the acquisitions will likely surround a greater ability to invade your living room. Steve Jobs and crew are already doing well in the mobile sphere with the iPhone and iPad, but they’re not quite in the living room yet with Apple TV.  To combat Google TV and the Xbox 360, Apple could be buying out some companies to help it create a new Apple TV-like device. This new machine would be smaller, more iPod-like, and run on iOS. It would ease the process of bringing iTunes to your home theater, not to mention the possibility of TV-based apps (much like Samsung Apps on TVs and Blu-ray players).

Switching gears to Research in Motion, the company best known for its BlackBerry line of smartphones could be looking to buy a mobile advertising company. An in-house, integrated solution would help it fight AdSense, iAds, and other platforms. It’s even rumored that RIM wants to buy Opera, since they just bought AdMarvel.

[Via Business Insider]

The post Business Insider: RIM and Apple to acquire more companies soon appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The only reason why I would step foot into a Black’s Photo retail store was if I wanted a photo frame or perhaps a nice photo album that I could use as a gift. I’m not the kind of person to print out my pictures, but there are lots of people who still do. The quality you get from “real” photo finishing is still better than most print-at-home solutions.

I’m not entirely sure why Telus would target Black’s for an acquisition, but it does help to provide some more retail presence and it could pave the way for some interesting convergence. For instance, they could load up Telus phones with an app that would send camera phone photos directly to Black’s for printing right from the handset. That’d be nice for people who want prints of those pictures.

So, the next time you walk into Black’s, you can pick up a new Nikon DSLR, a tripod, a photo frame, and a BlackBerry? The total price for buying all 113 Canadian locations, along with everything else to do with Black’s, was quoted at $28 million.

Source: MobileSyrup

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