MediaFile

Setting its sights on rival Apple, Google announced its biggest deal ever, a $12.5 billion cash acquisition of mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility.

Google’s biggest foray into hardware comes weeks after a failed attempt to buy patents from bankrupt Nortel, and gives it an intellectual property library in wireless telephony to wage war on Apple and Microsoft.

However, analysts agreed that that buy was more about the patents and less about the hardware.

The news sent shock waves throughout the tech sector on Monday. Shares of InterDigital plunged 23 percent on the news, while Nokia shares jumped over 10 percent.

In earlier news, video games publisher Electronic Arts is upbeat about Christmas holiday sales as it expects to release top titles and prepares its most high profile launch ever: “Star Wars: The Old Republic”.

Also China’s Huawei Technologies, the world’s No.2 network equipment maker, posted an 11 percent rise in its first-half sales as it closes in on market leader Ericsson.