My Story, EU to make final call on Google’s Motorola buy in January

Google has petitioned the European Union's European Commission for approval of its Motorola Mobility merger, but just don't expect a decision to be made anytime soon.

According to information posted today to the EU's Web site, Google provided notification about its merger on Friday. In response, the European Commission has promised to review the merger over the next several weeks and provide a decision on the deal by January 10.

Google announced plans earlier this year to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. In addition to the European Union, Google must gain approval from U.S. regulators to complete the acquisition.

Over the last several months, Google has made its plans for Motorola Mobility quite clear. Rather than enter the hardware business as some have suspected, the search giant says that it's simply buying Motorola for its patents and will allow the handset maker to operate independently.

"I don't think you should consider Google's acquisition of Motorola as Google entering the hardware business," Google
Android chief Andy Rubin said in an interview last month. "This is going to be an arm's length thing...Motorola isn't going to get any special treatment."

For their part, Motorola shareholders couldn't be happier about the deal. Earlier this month, 99 percent of the voting shares came down in favor of the acquisition, paving the way for the merger to close in early 2012.