> I think it would have made the blog post better to give some explanation for why Things Are Different This Time. When they bought Motorola it was for patents

> I think it would have made the blog post better to give some explanation for why Things Are Different This Time. When they bought Motorola it was for patents, they absorbed the patents but kept the remainder of the business separate from Google. Eventually breaking it apart and selling it off. This announcement doesn't sound like they are acquiring then entirety of HTC but rather a team within HTC. And that the team is joining Google, not remaining a separate entity. So things are different because they're acquiring a part of HTC and folding it into their organization for the explicit purpose of furthering their hardware pursuits. Not just buying up the whole company for it's patents and selling off the remainder.