Comments on: Android is Google’s Future [Opinion]

By: Joe Buck

Joe Buck — Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:00 +0000

they dont advertise because there are so many bugs in everything

By: Mike Lierman Invise-Solutions

Mike Lierman Invise-Solutions — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:04:00 +0000

Google has survived long before Android came to the picture. Google’s been a search company and that’s where they make their money, that and their ads and advertising content. Now Google+. Google makes pretty much zilch for Android, it’s open source. To say that it’s not super critical to the company is absolutely right. If Android didn’t exist, Google would still be very popular. Most people only use Yahoo for news. Same with MSN. When someone searches something, it’s always on Google. Have a question about something: you Google it. You search it up. Google has dominated primary search for over 12 years!!!!

Sure Android is a big part of what Google does, but Google can survive without Android and Google has a lot more money than anyone realizes. Google could probably pay off the U.S. debt…..

By: Matthew Ryan

Matthew Ryan — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Sorry for the late reply, just noticed this haha. I don’t think WP7 or iOs would make the mistake of disallowing Google from their ecosystems. The only thing that would do is hurt them because they’d then be lacking a service that a large portion of the audience uses.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:33:00 +0000

Yes, the services are ultimately the most critical, but without the delivery mechanism they are irrelevant. You ask how we would know they couldn’t deliver them some other way: apparently Google didn’t feel comfortable trying to answer that question. They decided to buy Android and develop it to ensure that their services would be used in the market. Regardless, at this point we’re debating semantics, so I’ll let you have the last word if you’d like.

By: Rachid

Rachid — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:17:00 +0000

Their services are the things that are critical, without those Google has no business. Android is a delivery mechanism, to deliver those critical services.

Delivery is very, very important. But how do we know they couldn’t deliver in some other way? Partnerships maybe? We don’t know. But they would still be here without android, not without their services.

One is critical to the company, the other is very important.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:49:00 +0000

More and more, people are using Google services only on their mobile devices. If mobile computing is the future then Google needs to ensure their services are used on mobile devices. They can’t guarantee that Apple will keep using Google services on iOS or that RIM uses Google services for Maps, etc. The only way to ensure that people are using their services is if people are using their own OS. That makes it critical.

By: Rachid

Rachid — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:18:00 +0000

I agree, that makes android pretty important for Google, which is what Page said…? Not critical, certainly not at the time either.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:15:00 +0000

I think they’ll have to use Android instead of Chrome OS too. That, or Chrome OS is going to have to change dramatically. That said, Google does need Android because it is the only way to guarantee that people will use Google services on mobile devices. Google can’y assume that their services will be available on iOS, etc.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:12:00 +0000

Right, but they can’t guarantee that their services will always be available on other platforms. That’s why Android is critical.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:10:00 +0000

Right, but the only way Google can guarantee that services like search are on mobile devices is to have their own OS that people are using. They simply cannot guarantee that their services will always be available on other operating systems.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:07:00 +0000

Yep, but how does Google guarantee that people are using those services and therefore seeing those ads? They can’t guarantee that their services will be on other mobile platforms, which is why having their own is critical.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:05:00 +0000

It’s important because it pushes users to use Google services. It’s critical because without their own OS Google can’t guarantee that people will be using their services on mobile devices.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:03:00 +0000

Can Google guarantee that their services will be available and used on other platforms? No. That’s why Android is critical.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Android is critical to Google’s success because that is the only way to ensure that people are using Google services, which show users ads, which gives Google money. I did not assume that the question was about Android’s future, but it obviously has implications for the future. By 2010 Google knew that mobile was the future, which means Android is their future.

By: Ron Offringa

Ron Offringa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:56:00 +0000

You’re right that Google’s man goal is to serve up ads. The question is, can Google guarantee that their services will continue to be those used on iOS, Blackberry OS, and webOS? webOS stopped using Google Maps. iOS appears to be moving away from Google Maps. webOS still defaults to Google search, but there are hardly any users left. Windows Phone may be on the rise in users (we’ll see next quarter), which doesn’t help Google at all. So what is the best way to ensure that people are using Google products? Put your own OS out there are has those services integrated. That’s why Android is critical.