Motorola Mobility buys start-up 3LM for Android phones security push

Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) announced the acquisition of Mountain View start-up Three Laws Mobility Inc. (3LM) to expand the security of phones running on Google’s Android mobile operating system.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, though reportedly the deal could be worth tens of millions of dollars.

3LM develops enterprise applications for Android phones, and its services provide Android devices with complementary functionality that enables the development of enterprise security features.

Motorola expects the purchase to enable the commercialization of device management services in the second quarter of 2011.

A report from the Wall Street Journal said 3LM, which was founded in July last year, has raised around $1.5 million from a seed funding from angel investors and Accel Partners.

3LM has already signed deals to provide its technology to several other device makers and those deals are expected to be announced soon, the Journal reported citing one person familiar with the matter.

3LM will continue as a business unit within Motorola, and expects to work with other leading Android device manufacturers, to promote and distribute the 3LM solution for Android in the enterprise.

With 3LM, we are excited to be able to work across the Android ecosystem to accelerate the adoption of Android devices by corporate users and their IT departments, said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services product management for Motorola Mobility.