Google, Motorola | featured news

European Union antitrust regulators on Monday approved Google’s acquisition of the U.S. cellphone maker Motorola Mobility without conditions, but added a stern warning: Play fair in markets for smartphones and tablet computers, or face tough sanctions.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC will stick with Google's mobile software despite the software giant's planned acquisition of rival Motorola and will continue to pursue acquisitions.

Google Inc. is buying cell phone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion in cash. It's by far Google's biggest acquisition and a sign the online search leader is serious about expanding beyond its core Internet business and setting the agenda in the fast-growing mobile market.

Tablet operating system is set to make its debut on Motorola Mobility's Xoom.

Google Mobile Platform VP Andy Rubin literally arrived with a bag full of tricks at the D: Get Into Mobile Conference, showing publicly for the very first time an Android "Honeycomb" tablet. The roughly 10-inch, Motorola device was sleek, black, thin and sported an Android interface unlike any we've seen before. There was a very clean homepage, but the app page looked almost Apple iPad-like. Plus, when Rubin brought up the Gmail app, it looked almost exactly like Gmail on the iPad.

As an iPhone user who is more than a little interested in the Motorola's newest, I have compiled a personal scorecard comparing important features of the two phones.

An aggressive TV ad campaign from Verizon Wireless is adding to the support building for a software package from Google Inc. that is shaping up to be the most formidable challenge yet to Apple Inc.'s iPhone.