The European Commission Monday approved mobile phone maker Motorola’s proposed acquisition of Symbol Technologies, a U.S. company specializing in building super-strong portable devices including computers.Motorola said last September that it would pay US$3.9 billion for Symbol, a leader in portable bar-code scanners and customized handheld computers.The deal expands Motorola’s stake in the market for business-oriented mobile devices, and if successful would be the phone maker’s largest acquisition since it bought cable TV-box maker General Instrument in 2000.The horizontal overlaps between the activities of Motorola and Symbol are limited, the commission said in a statement. “For all product categories concerned, the new firm would continue to face several strong, effective competitors,” it said. The commission also analyzed the effects of the proposed transaction arising from Symbol’s position on the market for data capture and scanning devices, which are incorporated in “ruggedized’ mobile computers. The regulator concluded that alternative and competing sources of supply would continue to exist and that there would be no particular risks of these markets being closed off. More information on the case is available on the commission website.-Paul Meller, IDG News Service (Brussels Bureau)Related Link: Motorola to Buy Symbol Technologies for $3.9BCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content feature Expedia poised to take flight with generative AI CTO Rathi Murthy sees the online travel service’s vast troves of data and AI expertise fueling a two-pronged transformation strategy aimed at growing the company by bringing more of the travel industry online. By Paula Rooney Jun 02, 2023 7 mins Travel and Hospitality Industry Digital Transformation Artificial Intelligence case study Deoleo doubles down on sustainability through digital transformation The Spanish multinational olive oil processing company is immersed in a digital transformation journey to achieve operational efficiency and contribute to the company's sustainability strategy. By Nuria Cordon Jun 02, 2023 6 mins CIO Supply Chain Digital Transformation brandpost Resilient data backup and recovery is critical to enterprise success As global data volumes rise, business must prioritize their resiliency strategies. By Neal Weinberg Jun 01, 2023 4 mins Security brandpost Democratizing HPC with multicloud to accelerate engineering innovations Cloud for HPC is facilitating broader access to high performance computing and accelerating innovations and opportunities for all types of organizations. By Tanya O'Hara Jun 01, 2023 6 mins Multi Cloud Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe