Google CEO Larry Page has explained the company's somewhat surprising decision to sell Motorola to Chinese manufacturer Lenovo in a deal worth $2.91 (around £1.8bn).

In an official blog post, Page admitted Google was unable to devote all of its attention to reinvigorating Motorola, alongside its other commitments within the Android ecosystem.

The CEO said Motorola will be better off with Lenovo in the competitive smartphone hardware world, while Google will focus on improving the Android experience for all manufacturers.

Backing Lenovo to restore Moto's place among the Android elite, Page wrote: "But the smartphone market is super competitive, and to thrive it helps to be all-in when it comes to making mobile devices. It's why we believe that Motorola will be better served by Lenovo—which has a rapidly growing smartphone business and is the largest (and fastest-growing) PC manufacturer in the world.

"This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere."

Patently important

On paper, the deal represents a huge loss for Google, which paid $12.5 billion for Motorola in 2012. However the retention of Motorola's vast mobile patent portfolio is worth its weight in gold, Page said.

"And on the intellectual property side, Motorola's patents have helped create a level playing field, which is good news for all Android's users and partners."

Page also pre-empted any suggestion that the sale could mean Google is rethinking its hardware strategy in other areas and reaffirmed the company's commitment to creating great products.

He added: "As a side note, this does not signal a larger shift for our other hardware efforts. The dynamics and maturity of the wearable and home markets, for example, are very different from that of the mobile industry. We're excited by the opportunities to build amazing new products for users within these emerging ecosystems."

Tribute

The Google boss also paid tribute to Motorola's efforts in the 19 months since Motorola officially came under Google's stewardship.

He wrote: "We acquired Motorola in 2012 to help supercharge the Android ecosystem by creating a stronger patent portfolio for Google and great smartphones for users. Over the past 19 months, Dennis Woodside and the Motorola team have done a tremendous job reinventing the company.

"They've focused on building a smaller number of great (and great value) smartphones that consumers love. Both the Moto G and the Moto X are doing really well, and I'm very excited about the smartphone lineup for 2014. And on the intellectual property side, Motorola's patents have helped create a level playing field, which is good news for all Android's users and partners."

Page added that Google's work with Motorola will continue until the deal is rubber stamped, adding that the approval process takes time.

Motorola is joining the Lenovo family and here are a few tantalizing details we know:

The flagships aren't going anywhere - in fact, Lenovo has nothing but praise for the Moto X, and even the Moto G.

The company plans on a three-year time table to really challenge the smartphone industry with its new partnership but in that time, Lenovo plans on continuing to push current Moto brands:

"[We will] make it [Moto phones] even more successful. There is a very excellent engineering team, and combined with operations platform within Lenovo, [we'll] sell more volumes of the Moto G."

Developing ...

Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo has agreed a deal with Google to acquire smartphone maker Motorola Mobility, it has now been confirmed.

Less than three years after paying $12.5 billion (around £7.5bn, AU$14bn) to acquire Google is parting with Motorola for a mere $2.91 billion (around £1.8bn, AU$3.5bn) in cash and stock.

The sale represents a stunning loss for Google, which has already recouped some of its outlay by selling Motorola Home to the Arris Group for $2.3 billion last year.

However, Google will retain the "vast majority of the Motorola patent portfolio," believed to total around 10,000 patents, which was thought to be a key reason the company bought Moto in the first place.

The sale does see Google acknowledge its expensive failure to turn around Moto's fortunes.

The 'Made in the USA' Moto X made headlines, but struggled commercially, and the low-cost Moto G impressed but had limited scope for profit.

Smartphone search

However, for Lenovo, the world's largest PC manufacturer, the deal represents the culmination of a long search to acquire a major smartphone company.

The company had previously expressed interest in BlackBerry, while a bid for HTC was also rumoured last year. A Motorola acquisition would also give it an enviable, 10,000-strong army of mobile patents.

Following reports on Wednesday afternoon in the New York Times, Lenovo confirmed the acquisition to TechRadar in an official news release.

"The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones. We will immediately have the opportunity to become a strong global player in the fast-growing mobile space," said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo, said in a media release.

Google CEO Larry Page said Lenovo has the expertise to turn Motorola into a major player within the Android ecosystem.

"Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem. This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere," he said.

Following the announcement earlier this week that Google and Samsung will be licensing each other's patents, new details have come to light suggesting the Android maker might be influencing the manufacturer to back off its own customizations.

Re/code reported today that the Android-based Magazine UX user interface shown off on Samsung's latest 12.2-inch Galaxy Note Pro tablet could be marked for death - or at the very least, in dire need of future tweaking that makes the OS underneath shine through.

According to multiple unnamed sources, the recent patent sharing deal between Google and Samsung also involves a directive from the former which reins in the number of custom apps and UI flourishes the latter has added with increasing frequency on recent mobile devices such as the Galaxy S4 smartphone.

Representatives from the two companies refused to comment on such a possibility, although Samsung did promise it would "continue to identify and provide differentiated and innovative service and content offerings on our mobile devices."

Sea change

The newfound cooperation between the companies was described by one source as "a huge change, a sea change" made over the last few weeks which could put Google's content and services more front and center at the expense of Samsung's own.

Sources claim the Korean manufacturer may "consider dumping or altering the Magazine UX interface in future devices," with a reduced focus on the in-house software that has been an increasing focus for the company.

In its place, Samsung might shine the spotlight on preloaded Google Play apps, replacing services like WatchON, ChatON and mSpot, which the report called "largely forgettable in the wider Android community."

Samsung may not ultimately care, but third-party partners such as Dropbox, Flipboard, SwiftKey and TripAdvisor likely will, given that their services have been bundled with devices out the box and Google has its own software capable of replacing them.

• Let the Android light shine in our review of the Motorola Moto G!

AT&T really wants more customers to join its network and its latest incentive puts money into users' pockets.

AT&T is throwing $100 to new and existing customers opening a new line of service. The bonus is eligible for every new smartphone, tablet, feature phone, mobile hotspot, or Wireless Home Phone line added to the carrier's 4G LTE network.

Customers lining up for the cash with a string attached can take advantage of the limited offer available until March 31 can visit an AT&T retail stores or this site.

Of course the offer comes with a few lines of fine print that require customers to maintain their service for 45 days. After which mobile users will receive their free credit within three billing cycles.

Pick me!

The carrier is calling it's new initiative a reward for existing customers. Meanwhile, AT&T wasn't too shy about hiding its intentions of picking up new users from other carriers.

"[I]t's an incentive for customers of Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and other wireless carriers to come to AT&T and enjoy the nation's most reliable 4G LTE network," the mobile carrier wrote in an announcement.

Previously, the blue carrier struck out cash bonuses up to $450 to lure in T-Mobile customers.

Over the last year AT&T has been more or less T-Mobile's whipping boy. However, the blue carrier has tried to bolster its network as the first with international roaming.

• Be glad striking a pose only takes milliseconds, cameras are 10 billion trillion times faster than 188 years ago