As the dust settles from yesterday’s sudden announcement that Lenovo will purchase Motorola from Google for close to US$3 billion, it seems that not all parts of Motorola will be making the move over to Lenovo.
In a conference call overnight, Lenovo confirmed that the Advanced Technology and Projects Group – currently under the stewardship of former DARPA director Regina Dugan – will not be included within the sale of Motorola. Instead, this group will be making the move from Motorola’s Sunnyvale HQ to Google’s Mountain View complex and will be integrated with Google’s Android team. The team will report to Sundar Pichai, but maintain a more independent role.
The Advanced Technology and Projects group’s most recent and notable project is Project Ara, in the hopes of producing a “modular” phone that allows different phone configurations to be created based on the selection of various interchangeable parts. It is believed the plan is to use Google’s scale and various other resources to accelerate the project while continuing development of other ideas like biotech sensors and security tattoos.
Google has also confirmed that it will keep patents developed in the Advanced Technology Group, though Google has allowed Lenovo a license to use these patents.
Do you think the Advanced Technology and Project is a good fit with Google’s Android Team? Will Google accelerate Project Ara and bring it to the public faster? Let us know in the comments!
