Around the Net
Google Plays Defense With Android
- GigaOm, Monday, April 2, 2012 12:06 PM
By most accounts, Android isn’t making Google a ton of money. Yet, it would be a mistake to assume that Google’s top priority with the mobile operating system is to turn a quick profit. At least according to GigaOm’s Tom Krazit. “Not all investments are made with the expectation that a big payoff is around the corner,” he writes. “Google’s decision to bankroll the development of Android was just such an investment.”
Wouldn’t the search giant like to see a big financial return from its mobile business? Sure, but, according to Krazit, that’s never been Google’s goal with Android. Rather, “Android was a defensive move on Google’s part, and one that wasn’t primarily motivated by desire for revenue or profit.” Put another way, Krazit posits: “All Google ever hoped to do was provide a shell-shocked smartphone industry with the tools to build a credible alternative to the iPhone that didn’t come with Apple’s tight-fisted control.
The potential upside was that those partners would expand the overall pool of people with access to the mobile Web, therefore ensuring that Google could compete for mobile searches without having to kowtow to Apple.” Good thing consider that the Guardian recently reported, based on its own calculations, that Google has earned a mere $550 million from Android since its launch in 2008.
