Google’s recent legal wrangling with Oracle has revealed some interesting snippets of information, chiefly that the software giant rakes in four times more revenue from Apple than it does from its own Android operating system.
Legal documents show that Google earned around $550 million in revenue from Android, between 2008 and 2011. However, Google’s licensing of Google Maps and Search to Apple for use on iOS devices has earned them up to four times as much moolah.
By the end of 2011 around 200 million Android devices had been activated, with Google scoring a little over $10 per device. Google will now have to pay a percentage of the profit received from each Android device to Oracle, who is claiming that Google’s mobile OS infringes on patents they hold related to Java technologies.
The legal spat dates back to 2010 when Oracle first started proceedings against the Mountain View Company, quoting a host of patents that Android was supposedly infringing upon. Fast forward almost 2 years and the number of patents in question is just two, with Google offering a pre-trial settlement payment of $2.8 million in damages, plus a percentage of the profits from Android on each patent.
Google CEO Larry Page spoke of the company’s success in the mobile sector recently at an earnings call, stating that the revenue was somewhere around the $2.5 billion mark. With figures from the trial between Google and Oracle showing that Android accounted for $550 million in profits, it’s clear that Google is getting a lot of its revenue in the mobile sector from elsewhere: namely Apple.
Google licenses Android to manufacturers of various gadgets from mobile phones to tablets to televisions for absolutely nothing. However, if a company wants to provide the true Android experience – meaning the Android Market, Google Maps, Gmail and other apps – it has to pay a fee in order to have its products ‘Google Certified’.
It’s likely that Android will catch up to Google’s earnings from deals with Apple soon, with the number of Android devices being activated per day skyrocketing with more manufacturers getting on board and launching new products, but just how long will it take?
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Via: Guardian