Motorola Mobility has snagged a number of experienced mobile and Web engineers from Apple and Adobe and is developing a Web-based mobile operating system as a potential alternative to Google’s Android software, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Asked to comment, Motorola did not refute the existence of the project but continues to affirm its interest in Android. “Motorola Mobility is committed to Android as an operating system,” a company spokesperson stated.

Jonathan Goldberg, an analyst with Deutsche Bank in San Francisco, said that he too had heard Motorola was at work on its own operating system. “I know they’re working on it,”  “I think the company recognizes that they need to differentiate and they need options, just in case. Nobody wants to rely on a single supplier.”

Goldberg said it’s unclear how far along Motorola’s operating system effort is and how serious the company is in seeking an Android alternative. “They don’t want to give Wall Street and developers the impression that they’re going back to the Motorola of old where they’re working on 50 million operating systems at once,” he said. “They want to be financially disciplined about this.”

Over the past nine months, Motorola has been hiring engineering talent that would well-suited to create a new mobile operating system. Its team appears to include a significant number of ex-Apple and Adobe personnel, including Gilles Drieu, VP of software engineering at Motorola Mobility, Benoit Marchant, director of engineering at Motorola Mobility, and Sean Kranzberg, also a director of engineering at Motorola Mobility.

Motorola’s focus on a Web-centric operating system may reflect uncertainty about Android arising from Oracle’s patent claims against Google. But building a new mobile OS around Web technologies is also a pratical move: There are a lot of Web developers already and there’s a lot of support in terms of tools and frameworks. The fact that HP paid $1.2 billion for Palm and its webOS suggests there’s some value in leveraging Web standards.

There may also be more immediate reasons for Motorola to look beyond Android. “Google is shooting itself in the foot,” said the person familiar with Motorola’s plans, citing what he sees as concerns about Android fragmentation, product differentiation, and issues related to Google’s support for its partners.