Android mobile operating software
A dozen phones are using Google’s Android mobile operating software, including Motorola Inc’s heavily promoted Droid phone. And software developers have created more than 12,000 games and other applications that run on Android phones, second only to the 100,000 apps on Apple Inc’s iPhone. “This is a platform that a lot of people were very skeptical about and it’s just exploded,” Brigantine Advisors analyst Colin Gillis said about Google’s Android. But Google’s success getting handset makers and wireless carriers to adopt its free smartphone software has not yet translated into a material benefit to finances.
Unlike Nokia or Research in Motion, which make money from hardware sales, Google is looking to prominently place its software and services on a new breed of mobile devices and gain direct access to valuable consumer data that can be used to sell ads for premium prices.
This month, Google announced the $750 million acquisition of AdMob, whose technology and network allow ads to be placed on mobile websites and within iPhone and Android apps.
Media reports have suggested that Google is building its own device to sell directly to consumers. This could give it greater control of its smartphone strategy, but could threaten relationships with hardware partners like Motorola.
Google hopes it has gained an advantage with its recently released Google Maps Navigation, which provides real-time, turn-by-turn driving directions and weaves in unique features like the company’s archive of street photographs.
But the navigation app only works on smartphones with the 2.0 version of Android — like Droid — and not on the other phones on the market. This highlights the lack of a uniform Android experience for consumers and developers to rely on. Google’s Rubin said the variety of Android systems is no different than the situation in the PC market, where multiple versions of Microsoft Corp’s Windows exist. Google has procedures and incentives in place to ensure that apps are compatible on different Android phones, he said.
And while Android doesn’t have nearly as many apps as the iPhone, Rubin said Android will stand out for the functionality of its apps, rather than their sheer quantity.
“Does it have every different type of application to slice and dice and all that squeaky toys and stuff that’s out there? I don’t care,” Rubin said. “I just want the best one in each category.”
Read the whole report on Reuters here.
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