Google's Sale of Motorola Could Help Samsung - NYTimes.com

Interesting that this shift coincides with Microsoft going in the other direction, as a platform purveyor, with Surface and Nokia

"Google’s ownership of Motorola was always something of a threat to Samsung, which is the No. 1 phone maker in the world. Samsung phones largely run on Android, Google’s mobile operating system. But Samsung has been developing its own mobile operating system, Tizen, partly in case Google put its full weight behind building its own hardware. With Google out of the handset-making business, Samsung can scale back on those efforts and build on its position as the leading seller of Android phones.
Google stands to benefit from Samsung as well. Google would like to get its Internet services running on as many mobile devices as possible. Samsung has reportedly agreed to reduce the modifications it makes to Android so that Google’s services will be more prominent and the software will look more like Google’s vision."

Google's Sale of Motorola Could Help Samsung - NYTimes.com