Motorola has always been one of the biggest proponents of Android, but a new rumor suggests that it may be developing their own mobile operating system. According to a "source familiar with the matter" speaking to Information Week, Motorola has been going crazy hiring mobile and Web-focused engineers from Adobe and Apple to help it build a Web-based mobile OS. "Google is shooting itself in the foot," said the tipster, who claims that Moto is worried about issues with Android including fragmentation, product differentiation, and problems with Google supporting its partners. Jonathan Goldberg, analyst at San Francisco-based Deutsche Bank, has also heard the rumors. Goldberg believes that "the company recognizes that they need to differentiate and they need options, just in case." When asked to comment, Moto simply said, "Motorola Mobility is committed to Android as an operating system."

We've definitely seen a number of Motorola-made Android devices hit the market in the past year and a half or so, and several of them have been pretty big hits for Sanjay Jha and co. Considering all of that, I doubt we'll be seeing Moto drop Android completely any time soon, but it may not be a bad idea for the company to craft its own OS. It could tailor the platform exactly to its needs and have total control over the entire process, plus it'd have something to fall back on should something happen with Android that it doesn't like. Of course, Moto's BLUR skin that it usually places atop Android isn't exactly the most popular UI around, so if its rumored OS is too BLUR-like, it may be wiser to just stick with Google.

Via Android and Me, Information Week