Motorola, maker of the top-selling Android-based smartphone, Droid, is investing in the Google operating system's future by buying a company that will make it easier to develop Android applications. Schaumberg, Ill.-based Motorola is believed to have paid $20 million to buy 280 North.

The two-year-old venture has three founders. Francisco Tolmasky and Ross Boucherformer are former Apple engineers who worked on maps for the iPhone, on the mobile version of Safari, and on the iTunes store. The third founder is Tom Robinson. The trio were students together at the University of Southern California.

Cappuccino Maker

The company is best known for creating Cappuccino, an open-source framework for developers to create applications for web browsers that look and operate like desktop applications. Cappuccino uses a programming language called Objective-J, which, according to 280 North, is "modeled after Objective-C and built entirely on top of JavaScript. Programs written in Objective-J are interpreted in the client, so no compilation or plug-ins are required."

The acquisition took place earlier this summer, a Motorola spokesperson told the tech blog that broke the story. The spokesperson said the deal "provides Motorola with specialized web-app engineering talent and technology that will help facilitate the continued expansion of Motorola's application ecosystem." The spokesperson added that "280 North will be instrumental in helping us continue to foster the Android ecosystem with innovative web-based technologies and applications."

Motorola didn't return our calls for comment about whether the company will produce applications for non-Android systems.

The Droid is offered by Verizon Wireless and has been purchased by 33.75 percent of Android users, according to an analysis by the mobile-ad firm Chitika. Motorola also makes T-Mobile's CLIQ and CLIQ QT, which the survey found to be capturing a smaller share of the Android market, 4.48 and 0.86 percent, respectively.

A study by Canalys showed that shipments of Android-based products made by HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and LG, among others, grew 886 percent in the second quarter.

An App-driven Market

The deal shows handset makers' increasing emphasis on developing mobile applications to enrich the user experience. Google's Android Market has grown to more than 100,000 applications in just under two years, but still lags behind Apple's 225,000 apps for the iPhone.

"It's not just the apps, but the ability of OEMs to add value on top of the Android platform in a way that is quick and differentiates them from other OEMs," said ABI Research mobile devices analyst Victoria Fodale. "It's no secret that some of the modifications Motorola made to Android on their devices in the past have been problematic to upgrade."

She added that 280 North could help Motorola expand beyond hardware sales. "Acquiring the framework expertise provided by this acquisition can help Motorola build an Android application ecosystem that can extend to other devices as well," Fodale said.

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