Google To Buy Patents From Defunct Modu

Google is always innovating with new research and breakthroughs of its own. The company is also sitting on a giant bankroll that allows it to buy up companies and patents that are for tech that it thinks would be good for its offerings too. You might recall that Modu that had an interesting modular mobile phone. The core mobile phone part of the Modu system could be removed from its sleeve and placed in another one to suit the need and style of the user at any given time.

By today's standards the little modular phone was pretty lacking in features, but for the day they were very cool. Modu has gone under leaving nothing behind but some patents that the firm held. Google has reportedly received the OK to purchase those left over patents. Modu never successfully found a market for its small devices with only a few carriers ever risking the sale of the phones. Modu went into bankruptcy when it ran out of cash ahead of its planned IPO.

Google is reportedly paying $4.9 million for the purchase of the Modu IP. That cash won't go to the firm owners, rather it will go to creditors and former workers for Modu that went unpaid when the company folded. Right now, there is no clear indication of what Google will do with this tech. I could certainly see the tech being worked into a core device that could be slipped into a sleeve for a smartphone, one for a tablet, and one for a netbook. That would be an interesting device indeed.

[via BGR]