Maybe it was all about the patents after all

There was a short article today in the Wall Street Journal that touches on Google's use of Android to compete with both Apple (in terms of Music and Media and a new pricing structure) and Facebook (better integration with Google+) with their latest Android phone offering improvements through their new Ice Cream Sandwich software.

What I thought was interesting was near the end of the article, where Andy Rubin, Google's chief of mobile technology, reiterates that Motorola would continue to be run as a separate entity, and they would not give special treatment to Motorola phones over Samsung or others. So it looks like this acquisition was all about the patents after all, while giving Google an in house R&D facility with Motorola to test out their products without unveiling and leaking what is in their pipeline.