(Pocket-lint) - Lenovo has officially completed its $2.91 billion (£1.81 billion) acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The Chinese technology group has bought the mobile devices division of Motorola from Google, which will be run as a wholly owned subsidiary and will continue to be based in the US.
Unlike the Nokia brand, which Microsoft this week announced will no longer be used on its Lumia range of Windows Phone smartphones, the Motorola brand will continue, alongside the Moto and Droid franchises for handsets.
It will also continue to exclusively build Android devices and upgrade existing Motorola handsets. The phone strategy of "unprecedented choice, value and quality" will remain.
Where Lenovo's guidance will help, claims the Motorola blog, is in "innovation, reach and impact". The last one is hard to measure, but Lenovo's global distribution network will surely help introduce phones into places Motorola has previously feared to tread.
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"Today we achieved a historic milestone for Lenovo and for Motorola – and together we are ready to compete, grow and win in the global smartphone market," said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo. He added that he wants the company's to combine to become the third largest mobile phone manufacturer globally (behind Apple and Samsung).
Although the Motorola Mobility division now belongs to Lenovo, Google retains the patents held by Motorola previously.