Sci/Tech | Schmidt: "Android Adoption Is About To Explode" : Jhoni.com

Schmidt: "Android Adoption Is About To Explode"

Oct 15, 2009 @ 05:17 PM, Sci/Tech, Ck Schonfeld

Text Size:

During Google's third quarter earnings conference call today, one message came out loud and clear: Google's mobile strategy is starting to pay off. "Android adoption is about to explode," declared CEO Eric Schmidt, explaining that all the "necessary conditions" are set for growth: There are now 12 Android phones out there (most recently the Motorola Cliq) across 32 carriers in 26 countries.

The whole Android strategy, of course, is to offer an low-cost, fully-featured, open-source OS and hand that to the cell phone manufacturers so that they can concentrate more on designing desirable hardware. And what does Google get out of all that? More mobile searches, which could be one of its biggest sources of growth in the coming years.

Already, Google is teasing at what may be in store. During the call, Google executive mentioned at least three times that mobile searches on Google were up 30 percent from the second quarter. Of course, they wouldn't say how many total mobile searches there were or what percentage of all searches they represent (probably still a very small subset), but they are very bullish about the company's mobile prospects.

In response to a question about how material mobile searches are to Google, CFO Patrick Pichette replied:

Again, we don't give the detail numbers. On a quarter over quarter basis, mobile searches grew 30% on Google. It tells you something about the mobile space, the smartphones, and how they are transformative. They are basically transforming how people live on a mobile basis. If we move forward the adoption of these mobile phones by lowering the cost because it is open source, think of how many searches [that will produce].

The way he put it, by making Android open source, Google is hoping to accelerate the adoption of Web-capable smartphones and get everyone searching on them. Given that most analysts expect more than 70 percent of mobile advertising to be search, you can see why Google's CFO can't wait to get as many search-friendly Android phones into consumers hands as possible.

Source: Washington Post

« Back to Sci/Tech News

Related News

• Google Should Make Apple Beg For Maps Navigation Oct 15, 2009 @ 05:17 PM

  When Google announced what is clearly the best car navigation application on any mobile today, it didn't just take a swipe at GPS navigation companies such as Garmin and TomTom. It took a swipe at Apple.

  
  

• AT& T, Verizon to Open Cellphone Networks Oct 15, 2009 @ 05:17 PM

  That appeared to be the message from AT&T and Verizon Wireless on Tuesday when the telecom giants announced separately that they would open their networks more widely to popular, and potentially rival, phone services. The twin policy decrees came as the Federal Communications Commission gets ready to take up rules that would prevent carriers from picking and choosing what services can access the Internet.

  
  

• Google Fully Embraces Realtime In Search Results Oct 15, 2009 @ 05:17 PM

  Today, at its Search Event in Mountain View, Google Fellow Amit Singhal took the stage to announce a big new feature for the search giant: Realtime. "It?s Google?s relevance technology meeting the realtime web," is how Singhal described it.

  
  

• Faster Forward: 'Unfriend' goes into the books Oct 15, 2009 @ 05:17 PM

  Yesterday, the Oxford University Press announced its 2009 Word of the Year: "unfriend."

  
  

• Think The Droid Launch Was A Let Down? Not So Fast. Oct 15, 2009 @ 05:17 PM

  Yesterday I detailed my quest to find the throngs of Droid fans who had woken up at the crack of dawn to grab a place in line before Verizon unleashed the phone to the masses. Yet despite reports of lines elsewhere, I failed ? the Verizon store in Palo Alto was a ghost town, as was the Best Buy down the street. Some commenters took my story and similar reports as an indication that the Droid's launch had bombed, doomed to play out the same fate of the numerous supposed 'iPhone killers' before it. It looks like they may be wrong ? that store sold over 70 Droids yesterday, according to one of its employees.