Tag: google

Android vs. Google Part II

AppleInsider | First AT&T phone with Google Android will feature Yahoo search

As the Backflip will mark the first time U.S. customers under contract with AT&T will have the option to choose between Android and the iPhone, every Motorola Backflip that AT&T sells might potentially be at the expense of an iPhone.

That Backflip sold will not generate Google any ad revenue since it will offer Yahoo/Microsoft search exclusively. Nor will the Backflip generate any license revenue for Google, because Android is licensed without a fee.

If that buyer would instead have bought an iPhone, the search from mobile Safari would have some non-zero value.

It is therefore pretty obvious that, at least in this instance, Android is destroying value for Google.

See also:

Android vs. Google (part I)


Mobile Platforms: First Market Where Google Beat an Incumbent

No, that incumbent is not Apple.

Google has taken on Microsoft with free good-enough web services for a few years. Gmail for business against Exchange, Chrome against Internet Explorer, and soon Chrome OS against Windows. But it’s Android vs. Windows Mobile which is shaping up to be the first success story for Google.

Windows Mobile has to deal with Android as a classic low-end disruptor. Both are competing for OEM deals and it’s plain to see how Android is a better opportunity:

  • lower cost means lower BOM, and higher margins
  • easier differentiation through customization of the UI. WP7 went so far as to eliminate this option
  • open source beats closed for devices any day
  • a fragmented ecosystem beats a dysfunctional one

WP7 appears to be something so different than what WinMo was that it may indicate Microsoft abandoning the licensing market to Google.