Google announced their Q3 earnings this morning on an earnings call with investors which was simultaneously aired on their Investor Relations YouTube Channel. After this mornings announcement of the Samsung/Google event happening at next weeks All Things D:Asia conference, I wanted to see what else they had in store. Hit the break for the Android related info
On the earnings call were Larry Page(CEO), Patrick Pichette(Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer), Nikesh Arora(Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer) and Susan Wojcicki(SVP of Google, Advertising). They ran through some prepared statements and then ran through Q&A from investors and media on the conference call.
During his statement, Larry Page advised that 190 Million Android Handsets have now been activated globally, he went on to mention Ice Cream Sandwich, saying ‘You won`t believe what we have managed to do in this release’. He also spoke about Google+, ‘Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million user mark. People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started!’. This was about all that was mentioned for Android really during the ‘scripted’ part of the earnings call that I could hear anyway.
During the Q&A section, Google was questioned on the subject of Microsoft approaching Google Hardware Partners to pay license fees for each handset produced, they were asked ‘Will Google Subsidise these fees?’ and they answered with
Rather than seeing Microsoft compete in the marketplace with their own phones, they continue resorting to legal measures to hassle their own customers. We haven’t seen the details of those agreements and I assume our partners are making good deals for themselves. We see Android growing Gangbusters and we don’t see anything that will stop that.’
From another question about the litigation surrounding the Android ecosystem and patent issues he said :
We see our partners and our ecosystem growing hugely. Ultimately other companies actions will alienate their customers.” & “We’re serious about protecting the Android ecosystem.”
Google then went on to reference the Samsung/Google event next week and confirmed their dedication to protecting the Android EcoSystem but they didn`t elaborate on how they were going to go ahead with doing this.
From their earnings statement they listed ‘As of September 30, 2011, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities were $42.6 billion’. Overall according to the statement Google`s revenue is up 33% and profit is up 26% no doubt in part thanks to Android.
Larry Page did actually go onto Google+ to put his comments from the earnings call down, you can check them out here, overall I personally got the feeling that Google is very excited about Google+ as a whole, so if you don`t have a Google+ account as yet, point your browser here : http://plus.google.com
Huh? How do they make money with Android? And if they do, why can’t they say so?