Google’s fourth quarter: 250 million Android devices, 11 billion app downloads

If the reports that Apple was “catching up” with Android yesterday made anyone contemplative (and contemplate that it was a narrow focus on new smartphone buyers), Google’s earnings call today should be enough to put any and all doubts to rest. Amid the regular pomp and circumstance of corporate back-patting, Google CEO Larry Page noted that over 250 million Android devices have been activated worldwide, with more than 11 billion (that’s billion with a B) apps have been downloaded from the Android Market. That’s a heck of a way to start off the new year.


The last time we’d heard either figure was back in 2011: Android passed the 200 million device mark in November,  and Google celebrated 10 billion app downloads in December with a 10-day sale. That’s a growth of 50 million Android phones and tablets, 25% of the former total, in just over two months. Total app downloads have grown by 10% in less than one. Both Android sales and usage are at what creative mathematicians like to call the hockey stick point of the graph, and there’s no indication that it’s slowing down, particularly in worldwide markets.
Google doesn’t discuss direct revenue in relation to Android (though Oracle’s been mighty forthcoming lately) but the company’s total earnings passed 10 billion dollars for the first time ever. The vast majority of the 10.6 billion figure comes from advertising, with $410 million from outside sources. It’s not all rose-colored, though – while Google’s income and profits are both growing, Q4 2011 was the slowest growth all year, mirroring hardships from just about every company in the technology sector.


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Google Android Look And Feel Gets More Uniform

Google makes Holo theme the Android device default, says developers and manufacturers can now customize with less risk of future compatibility issues.


Google has a new dress code for Android. The semi-open nature of Android has ensured that makers of Android handsets and developers of Android apps have considerable freedom to alter the user interface (UI).
The less open Apple iOS platform also allows developers to design apps as they see fit, provided Apple's UI guidelines aren't trampled in the process. But Apple doesn't have iOS hardware partners reimagining the basic device interface--which some would argue is for the best--the way that Google partners HTC and Samsung have done.


Despite a marginal edge in openness, Google has recognized that a bit of guidance about Android themes and styles could bring some order to its unruly mobile ecosystem. In keeping with the company's recent UI overhaul of its websites, Google is requiring its hardware partners to include the unmodified Holo theme on Android 4.0 devices--the native theme in Android 4.0 (a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich)--for the sake of compatibility.
"Before Android 4.0 the variance in system themes from device to device could make it difficult to design an app with a single predictable look and feel," said Google software engineer Adam Powell in a blog post. "We set out to improve this situation for the developer community in Ice Cream Sandwich and beyond."


Read complete at InformationWeek.com

Google Lights the Way in Improving Android Tech

Managing partnerships for the Android platform is a bit like playing quarterback, says Google's (GOOG) John Lagerling.


Wireless carriers, handset manufacturers and chipmakers all have their own ideas for the Google-backed operating system, now the No. 1 platform for smartphones in the U.S.


Those players are all "extremely important in whether we win or not," said Lagerling, who is Google's director of Android global partnerships. In football after all, the QB usually relies on other players to get the ball in the end zone.




Even so, "you need someone to set the direction," Lagerling said, "and I think that's what Google has done, maybe like a quarterback."


Free To Create


Lagerling adds that the Web search giant has benefited from being independent, meaning it previously didn't have a direct hand in telecom or related industries. He said: "We're able to come in as a bit of a wild card, and I think set the tone."


Still, it's a "delicate balance," Lagerling said. "It's not always easy to keep everybody happy."


In any case, analysts are happy about Google's moves so far with Android — first launched commercially in 2008 — and its other mobile initiatives.


In a report about Google's third-quarter results, Credit Suisse wrote that the company is "in the process of building a comprehensive mobile presence, which would place it (along with Apple) at the center of the mobile Internet ecosystem and allow Google to maximize the profit potential."


The Credit Suisse analysts pointed out Google's Q3 disclosure that annual mobile revenue is now at about $2.5 billion, up from $1 billion a year ago and roughly 7% of total revenue. "As a result, we continue to think of mobile Internet as a significant incremental opportunity for Google," they wrote.


One frequent knock against Android devices is they don't feel quite as polished as Apple's (AAPL) iPhone or iPad. In large part, that's because no single partner controls an Android device from end to end.


Buffing The Product


Lagerling suggests the complaints will ebb with the latest version, dubbed Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich. In the U.S., the first device using ICS just went on sale this month.


"Now we also have the polish," he said. "Over the next six to nine months, all of the ICS devices that you'll see will be at a very, very high level in terms of usability and polish."


With the new version of Android, Google also will step up its push into the TV business.


"It used to be that touch-screen was a must if you wanted to build a compatible Android device," Lagerling said. "Now you don't need to have a touch-screen. You can have a pointer, a remote control or something else."


He added: "I expect a lot of these set-top boxes will use Android, or even TVs will use Android, going forward."


Worldwide, users are activating a huge number of Android devices. Google's latest estimate is about 700,000 Android activations every day.


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Android Extends Smartphone Lead

Google ’s Android operating system continues to face a veritable barrage of legal challenges from rivals , but this does not seem to be affecting its market growth.


Android commanded 43.7 percent of US market share through August, gaining almost 2 percentage points from comScore’s last count of 41.8 percent in July,  according to the researcher.


Android sales could get a boost in the US from sales of the new Samsung Galaxy S II Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphones on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.


Modest iOS Rise


Verizon Wireless meanwhile is expected to begin selling the Samsung Nexus Prime Android 2.4 “Ice Cream Sandwich” handset  after the OEM and Google introduce it next week at CTIA in San Diego.


 Apple’s iOS share rose modestly to 27.3 percent from 27 percent in July and 26.6 percent in June, said comScore.


The iPhone should see a much bigger boost through November and December after Apple  launches the iPhone 4S 14 October. The new phone features a faster A5 processor , 8-megapixel camera, iOS 5 and iCloud integration, as well as the Siri virtual assistant application.


Piper Jaffray expects Apple to ship 25 million iPhones  in the December quarter, padding the company’s current worldwide sales of over 128 million iphones. 


Read complete at TechWeekEurope.co.uk