It’s Monday morning and we already have some major news coming from none other than Google with its next acquisition. According to a post on the Google blog by CEO and co-founderw Larry Page, the company is going to acquire Motorola Mobility at $12.5 billion and will be paying $40 per share, a premium of 63% from the closing price of Motorola’s shares from last Friday.

Although the actual acquisition is expected to take place at the end of the year or in early 2012 due to pending regulatory approvals, the acquisition makes perfect sense. Motorola has a history of over 80 years of innovation in communications technology, also creating the first portable cell phone 30 years ago, the StarTAC.

With the recent news of Microsoft and Apple banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android, the acquisition of Motorola will, according to Page, increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, enabling them to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats.

Although Moto wasn’t the first manufacturer of Android phones, as it was HTC with the G1, they have been around since the beginning, also making Android the only OS used on their smartphones. It was the original Droid that was one of the game changers in the mobile industry. This still surely create a better hardware/software experience on Android devices, and Google still plans to remain a licensee of Android, meaning Android will remain an open platform.

It’s also looking even more likely that the rumored Nexus 3, the next Google Experience device, will be coming from Moto.

From a personal standpoint, I think this acquisition is just what Google needed. Now that the search giant will have their own hardware company, it should give Android an ever better edge on Apple and its iPhone. Allowing an even more seamless experience, just as Apple does with all its devices, mobile and desktop computers.

Lastly, here’s a quote from Page on the Google blog, which I think explains why Google went with Moto:

“Motorola’s total commitment to Android in mobile devices is one of many reasons that there is a natural fit between our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere.”