Google and Motorola’s deal has pretty much been approved by every other antitrust regulatory board with the exception of China, at least until now. According to Google, they have announced that the Chinese authorities have finally approved their $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility, essentially making this the last hurdle that both companies had to face. Interestingly it seems that this approval was only given after Google had agreed to a condition set by the authorities, which was that they had to ensure that the Android mobile operating system remain free and open for at least five years. This is according to a source who is supposedly familiar with the details, so we guess we can’t really confirm it.
This isn’t really surprising given that many were skeptical that Google would keep Android free and open after it had acquired the mobile division from Motorola, fearing that they might start churning out their own phones and end up favoring Motorola devices, ultimately closing Android off to everyone else. Assuming the source is to be believed, we guess at the very least, Android will remain free and open for a good five years.