[tmktmk]

Uhm, no. Arguably MS and Apple got a much stronger patent portfolio for a much lower premium than Google did. If anything, this action makes Google look desperate, striking out to try to acquire as much IP "real estate" as possible before their competition completely buys out all existing IP. Additionally, MS was reportedly in the running for buying Motorola.

I think this is most likely a reactionary move by Google to basically make sure Microsoft doesn't buy out / pay off all the cell phone manufacturers, and make them all go WP7.