Saturday, July 16, 2011

Google Android Now on 135 Million Devices

Google's Larry Page had a quite successful first quarter.


Among the highlights was certainly Android, which is now said to be present on more than 135 million active devices. According to Google, 550,000 Androids are now activated every day and there have been more than 6 billion App downloads.

 

Google is categorizing Android as a "high consumer success" product, next to Chrome and YouTube. Page noted that Google is heavily investing in those segments to ensure their "long-term success." Android appears to be especially growing like a weed as the activation count was at just 500,000 per day a month ago and the total device count was at just 100 million two months ago. Google noted that more than 250,000 apps are now available for Android.

 

Page also briefly commented on the patent situation of Android and told investors that Google is building its defense against lawsuits. "Obviously we have a number of intellectual property patents in progress not just already issued." However, he deflected the question by an analyst, by simply adding more numbers explaining the success of Android: 400 different devices, 39 OEMs, 231 carriers in 123 countries: "And that velocity is only increasing. Despite the efforts of some of our competitors, there hasn't been any slowdown in any of those things," Page said.

 

Of course, that may make Android an even more attractive patent suit target. According to Spencer Wang, an analyst with Credit Suisse, Google holds only about 650 patents in total, which less than the number of patents IBM gets approved every 2 months.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/google-android-installations-app-downloads,news-11861.html