From the above link, I massively agree with this:
I think Motorola knew they had Google by the balls. Google needed Motorola’s patent library to defend Android as a whole, Motorola knew it, and they made Google pay and pay handsomely. I don’t think it’s curious at all why Google didn’t simply license Motorola’s patents. Motorola held out for a full acquisition at a premium far above the company’s actual value, and threatened to go after its sibling Android partners if Google didn’t acquiesce. Thus the public threats from Jha and Icahn. Thus the high price. Thus the lack of a simpler, cheaper licensing agreement. Thus the unusual $2.5 billion reverse breakup fee.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a bold, brash move, or even to say it wasn’t the right move for Google and for Android as a platform. But that’s all relative to the position Google was in — and that position was a weak one, and to pretend otherwise is to deny the obvious. And don’t forget that it leaves Google in a tenuous situation with the two leading Android handset makers, Samsung and HTC. I think Apple and Microsoft probably feel pretty good, competitively, about having forced Google into spending $12.5 billion for Motorola — a handset maker with rapidly declining sales, no recent profits, and misguided management.
It's a very bizarre marriage and I can't believe for a second that this forms any sort of great Google plan. Where this all ends is anybody's guess.

Here's the GSMA's latest reporting:
Google’s planned acquisition of Motorola has created numerous aftershocks across the mobile industry, sparking debate into how the deal will change relationships among the various participants in the ecosystem.

The Financial Times (FT) reports that Nokia, which adopted Microsoft’s Windows Phone as its smartphone platform of choice earlier this year, said the deal “could prove to be a massive catalyst for the Windows Phone ecosystem.” There was some speculation that the deal could see Nokia become more attractive as a target, with an analyst with Nordea Bank telling Bloomberg that in comparison with Motorola, “there is quite a bit more on the table and yet there is little difference between the valuations of the two companies.” However, with Microsoft widely seen as the most likely acquirer of Nokia, it was noted that the companies already have a strong partnership and that Microsoft has significant patent holdings of its own – making an acquisition less likely.

It was suggested that Samsung, HTC and LG Electronics, which have already offered smartphones powered by the Microsoft platform alongside Android devices, may choose to review their strategies once Google begins competing with them directly via its Motorola arm. These companies will also be watching closely to see if Motorola gets preferential access to new Android releases or technologies, which would create an uneven playing field in the Android handset market.

The FT had a comment from Samsung, which noted that: “the news is so sudden that we are still studying its implications ... but we are not viewing it so negatively.” Bloomberg reports that HTC has also been positive, and that Google strengthening its mobile patent portfolio will be “beneficial for the whole [Android] group, the whole camp.”

Patent holding company InterDigital saw its share price fall by more than 10 percent, after its value soared on previous speculation that Google was considering an acquisition of this business. With Google not only having bolstered its patent armoury through its Motorola buy, but also having the US$12.5 billion acquisition of a mobile phone vendor to manage, its appetite for further deals may be dampened. However, there is also the possibility that one of Google’s rivals will look to InterDigital for a deal, in order to strengthen their position against the combined Google/Motorola business.

The Wall Street Journal suggested that any disruption among the Android community could work in RIM’s favour, by providing the BlackBerry maker with “much needed time to bolster its own handset offerings.” RIM could also become a potential acquisition target for bigger players “looking to grab patents or RIM’s corporate-heavy customer base.”

According to GigaOM, Motorola had previously held talks with Microsoft about a deal, with the computing giant seeing the handset maker’s intellectual property portfolio as a tool that would allow it to “torpedo Android even further.” This brought Google to the table, with the advantage that it also showed more interest in the company’s handset business than Microsoft.