Any internal firewall is a joke. In the investment world, there is a legally mandated firewall between the analysts and the pitchmen. Yet that never stopped analysts from giving suspiciously positive reviews of stocks their bank was interested in selling. The firewall between the Android team and Motorola isn't even as strong as the internal firewall in investment banks. It's simply a fig leaf to cover Google's entry into hardware manufacturing.

Now, whether that entry is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be decided. However, I don't think it's in anyone's interest to pretend that there will be no information exchange between the Android team and Motorola Mobility. If Google was really interested in maintaining separation between Motorola and the Android team, they would have declined to purchase Motorola.