ReadWriteWeb

Google characterized it as "Supercharging Android." Whether you subscribe to that characterization of Google's takeover bid for Motorola Mobility may depend upon which end of the Android ecosystem you're standing on. One of the factors that made Android such a strong challenger to Apple's iOS is its open and diverse distribution model. Regardless of the outcome of Google's bid, that model will change.

How much more likely are developers and partners to support Android next week than last week, now that they know Google is positioning Motorola to be the system's premium brand? What does Google gain from being a serious (read: "forget the Nexus One") manufacturer of Android over and above what it would have gained just as a promoter? And what does this move mean for Android supporters who had intentions to move the system beyond mere smartphones? ReadWriteWeb posed these and other questions to NPD Group Executive Director for Industry Analysis Ross Rubin on Thursday.

According to new research from analytics firm Nielsen, most Android users spend more time with native mobile applications than they do on the mobile Web. The average Android user spends 56 minutes per day actively interacting with the Web and apps on their devices. Of that, nearly 67% is done through native applications.

The most popular offerings take up the lion's share of time spent. We are not just talking the top 1,000 apps of the more than 250,000 Android apps available. The top 50 apps end up taking 61% of users' time, according to Nielsen. That means that most users are spending most of their time playing Angry Birds and listening to Pandora (for example) than interacting with niche services. The stakes in for developers to create top-end apps that consumers will actually use has never been higher.

Over the past week, there have been stirrings in the Android community about the Linux GNU General Public License (GPLv2) and whether or not original equipment manufacturers have violated the license, thus making them vulnerable to lawsuits from thousands of Linux users. The argument is that OEMs have broken the Linux license terms and so have automatically lost their rights to distribute Linux on their devices. If that were the case, it would be a big problem for Android and the OEMs since Linux is the very foundation that Android is built upon.

But the GPL situation is not so black and white. Can the Linux GPL issue be a problem for the OEMs? Certainly. Is it actually a problem right now? No, and there is no indication that it ever will be. What the argument amounts to is a miniature battle of "he said, she said" between Linux experts against intellectual property attorney and patent experts. While the IP experts make a compelling argument, the Linux and open source community brings reason to the argument.

According to ClickFox, a customer experience analytics company, Android and Blackberry phones require a lot more handholding by wireless companies than iPhones. Based on an analysis of more than 250 million wireless subscribers in the U.S., the costs are about $4 more per subscriber annually.

Yesterday Google announced that they would be acquiring Motorola (here's why they did it). But we wondered what you thought about the marriage, so we asked you, "How do you feel about the acquisition of Motorola by Google?"

You answered and we culled your responses from Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook, and used Storify to present it all back to you. If you have additional responses, please leave them in the comments.

LinkedIn has launched a major overhaul of its mobile apps for iPhone and Android, as well as a brand new HTML5 mobile Web app. It's a complete redesign, forgoing the larger grid of menu options in favor of four key sections: Updates, You, Inbox, and Your Network. The previous menu had too many choices, and some of the titles weren't intuitive. What's the difference between "News" and "Buzz?" Why are "Connections," "Reconnect" and "Invitations" all separate buttons? The new screen simplifies the navigation options.

The update also adds new features. This release addresses what LinkedIn reports is "the #1 most requested feature" from its members, allowing users to access LinkedIn Groups from the native apps (though not from the Web app). The app has also been rearranged to open by displaying the Updates stream, which LinkedIn says is "one of the most frequently used areas of the current mobile app."

There is a middle ground in Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility that is not just about just patents. It is not all about Google controlling its own original equipment manufacturer. Nor is it about solely defending the future of the Android ecosystem. This is about Google's standing in the mobile industry, the greater technology environment and its bottom line.

Google had very healthy second quarter earnings. Yet, it missed Wall Street expectations and the stock has taken a hit. Advertising accounted for 96% of Google's revenues, with near 66% of that on Google's own sites. Overall, Google's revenues were $6.82 billion. Google's investment in Android "is not material to the company" meaning that Google spends little on Android yet gets a decent return on its investment. Yet, there is a powder keg of money under Android and Google is seeing next to none of it in proportion to the ecosystem. So, Google needs to protect the future of Android for the value of mobile search it can advertise against. There are untold billions that Google could tap if it was more vertically integrated. Enter Motorola.

The most open thing going on in the Android realm today may be warfare. Today's announcement of Google's intent to acquire Motorola Mobility, the producer of many Android phones and a prominent contributor to the Droid brand, points to a new and severely altered landscape for mobile apps where absolutely every platform is controlled by a principal corporate entity that is directly partnered with, owns, or is a phone maker.

"Google has drawn some lines in the sand by essentially becoming a competitor to OEMs with whom it has previously aligned as a partner," says Yahoo Canada technology analyst Carmi Levy. "If you're in the corner office of Samsung or HTC, your world just became a lot more complex. They need to consider whether they want to continue contributing to the growth of what is now going to be their largest competitor."

Editor's note: This morning news broke that Google has acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The move is a fork for Google in that it is getting into the device business on a large scale for the first time in its history. The big discussion surrounds the fact that part of Google's acquisition of Motorola is to "defend Android" from patent lawsuits from the likes of Microsoft, Apple and others. Motorola has 17,000 mobile patents with another 7,500 pending. Google hopes to use those patents to protect Android and the entire ecosystem, including other Android original equipment manufacturers outside of Motorola, against attacks.

The transcript below provides the highlights from the conference call that Google and Motorola held this morning after the announcement. Questions from analysts and financial companies have been stripped so as to show the answers to pertinent issues from Google and Motorola.

Google and Motorola Mobility announced this morning that Google will acquire the mobile handset manufacturer for $12.5 billion. Android will remain open and Motorola will remain a licensee of Android. Google will run the Motorola as a separate business. Across the world, there are Android-based original equipment managers that feel like they just got punched in the stomach, as Google's entry into the hardware supply chain, no matter how benevolent the companies make it sound, is a huge wave that will have ripple affects across the entire mobile ecosystem.

It makes absolute sense for Google to buy Motorola. The last couple of weeks have seen Google take significant body blows to its Android vertical. First they lose the Nortel patents to Apple and Microsoft (among others) and then Apple comes out with its second quarter earnings statement to reveal that it now has $76 billion in the bank and making more than $10 billion in profit every quarter. Most of that is from iOS. Android is not making that kind of money for Google and the search giant has to be feeling that it missed an opportunity, especially considering that Apple only has 18.2% of the worldwide smartphone market and Android has 43.4%. How will Google's addition of Motorola shake up the industry?