Google: Android Cost "Isn't Material" for Company

[kjk]

http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/15/android-costs/

how much investment is Google putting into Android for this open platform?

“Android cost isn’t material for the company,” Google CFO Patrick Pichette noted. He said that it’s important to remember that perhaps the key products for Android — the phone hardware — isn’t developed by Google at all. Droid X, for example, was entirely an investment by Motorola to make the device. “The entire ecosystem is exploding,” Pichette said.

That is pretty amazing. I'm pretty sure development costs of Windows Phone 7 and iOS4 are pretty material to Microsoft and Apple. Shows how much the open source community is contributing, not just to the ecosystem, but to the core development.

[wodin]

Only a Pollyanna would believe that Google isn't making (or anticipates making) a ton of money from Android.

Google has demonstrated that there are many more ways to profit than by direct sales.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by wodin

Only a Pollyanna would believe that Google isn't making (or anticipates making) a ton of money from Android.

Google has demonstrated that there are many more ways to profit than by direct sales.

I'm not sure who you think the Pollyanna is here?

In terms of making money off of Android’s software (beyond search), Rosenberg said it was too early to answer that. “We’re mostly focused on building out the platform with Android.“

[Gwen Morse]

Originally Posted by kjk

That is pretty amazing. I'm pretty sure development costs of Windows Phone 7 and iOS4 are pretty material to Microsoft and Apple. Shows how much the open source community is contributing, not just to the ecosystem, but to the core development.

My take of that article is that Google's CFO was pointing out they don't absorb the majority of the costs involved in developing for Android. They don't pay for the hardware development or the app development.

They manage the app store and are responsible for the OS (which is at least partially developed by talented volunteers). However, that's just a small fraction of the cost of the whole Android experience.

As was pointed out lower down in the comments section, the point to being the middle men is they get to datamine the users more thoroughly than companies have been able to datamine phone users in the past.