After Google's announcement yesterday, everyone had the same question -- what is the company getting out of releasing its open-sourced mobile phone OS (Android)? When we reached out to the search giant for answers about its fiscal plans for the freely-distributed OS, we were a little surprised by the response we received from Richard Miner, one of Android's key technical staff.
"For Android, there is no built-in business model," Miner stated flatly during our phone conversation. "The answer might not make sense, but basically, this is all going to be open sourced. For us, strategically, it's key to have strong support in the mobile world." He continued, "As far as monetizing it -- we're more focused on delighting users before we figure out how to throw ads in front of them."
For Google, "delighting users" and getting them hooked on its apps are essentially the same thing. According to Miner, the real draw for getting Android up and running was securing a large and fundamental footprint in the mobile space. Trading the boon of an open and easily adoptable OS was just one of the first steps to opening up the industry.
"If you know anything about the mobile space, it's been painful when it comes establishing a common platform," Miner lamented. "We've seen success with applications like mobile mapping, but effectively we've been asking 'how can you be really successful at building apps in the mobile space?' So, to some extent that's what has driven Google's investment and development of Android."
Developers and mobile phone users could definitely benefit from an open platform, but we're curious to see how Google plays its hand. Even though service providers will most likely spin off Android, Google is betting that better web access on handsets will equal more web traffic (and ad revenue) in the end. With the possibility of the company sharing its mobile ad revenue with service providers, it's looking like Android might not have a business model per se -- but it certainly has a lot of earning potential.
Photo courtesy of Tech.co.uk
