Apps are easy to replace, the web is not. Google thrives in a massively fragmented world because that's where search matters. Google dies in a single platform world owned by Apple.
Fragmentation makes developers' lives more difficult, makes users' lives more makes difficult, but drives people to the web as a unifying platform. Google's cost of customer acquisition may go up in the short term, but Google still makes all of the money from search at the end of the day.
Great link. Not surprising actually, considering the demographics of iOS users and that iOS includes iPod Touch and iPad.
Google usually talks Android numbers vs. iPhone. Apple usually talks about total iOS devices and often emphasizes the install base since they were out first and built a 100 million device install base before Android even launched. In this case, it's in Google's interest to talk about total iOS install base so that's what they did, even though they don't really compete with the iPod Touch directly.
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Apps are easy to replace, the web is not. Google thrives in a massively fragmented world because that's where search matters. Google dies in a single platform world owned by Apple.
Fragmentation makes developers' lives more difficult, makes users' lives more makes difficult, but drives people to the web as a unifying platform. Google's cost of customer acquisition may go up in the short term, but Google still makes all of the money from search at the end of the day.
I would agree, except that Google itself has said that over 60% of their mobile traffic comes from iOS. [1]
[1]: http://9to5mac.com/2011/09/21/google-23rds-of-our-mobile-sea...
Great link. Not surprising actually, considering the demographics of iOS users and that iOS includes iPod Touch and iPad.
Google usually talks Android numbers vs. iPhone. Apple usually talks about total iOS devices and often emphasizes the install base since they were out first and built a 100 million device install base before Android even launched. In this case, it's in Google's interest to talk about total iOS install base so that's what they did, even though they don't really compete with the iPod Touch directly.
Sure they do - it took them a while but there's comparable devices now: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/16/samsung-galaxy-player-4-a...