UPDATE 1-Google warns of more cuts at Motorola, Q3 cuts to cost $340 mln

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Oct 4 (Reuters) - Google Inc said planned job cutsat its Motorola Mobility mobile phone unit will cost about $340million in severance and other costs in the third quarter and itwarned of further restructuring that may result in "significant"charges.

"Motorola has continued to refine its planned restructuringactions and now expects to broaden those actions to includeadditional geographic regions outside of the U.S.," the companysaid in a statement.

Google plans to shrink Motorola's operations in Asia byexiting unprofitable markets, abandoning low-end devices andfocusing on a few models instead of dozens, the New York Timeshad reported earlier.

"Motorola continues to evaluate its plans and furtherrestructuring actions may occur, which may cause Google to incuradditional restructuring charges, some of which may besignificant," the company said.

The Internet search giant said in August that it would cut20 percent of the workforce at Motorola Mobility, which itbought for $12.5 billion last year, as it moves to make moresmartphones and fewer simple mobiles.

By pairing Motorola's smartphone business with its Androidsoftware, Google may have a better chance of mounting a directchallenge to Apple Inc's popular iPhone.

The acquisition raised concerns on Wall Street as investorsfretted that Google was entering a business with much lowerprofit margins and in which it had little experience.

Analysts were expecting Google to wind down many ofMotorola's legacy businesses to fit its strategy.

Google shares were up $1.60 at $764.10 in trading before thebell on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by RodneyJoyce and Sreejiraj Eluvangal)

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Keywords: GOOGLE MOTOROLA/