Android is winning for Google in a massive way once you understand their goal. Google's Android and even Chrome strategies are that _no one_ should win at the OS/platform level. They never want another Windows, or Mac, or IE, or anything that prevents them from leveraging the open web because it's fronted with proprietary code that can block them.
The best way to win at that game is to either force the market to adopt the system they can manage ("with Google" approved Android phones and the market) or make the web the only worthwhile source of truth among a hodge-podge of OSes that try to bolt on proprietary components. Even the major commercial forks of Android have not yet proved to derail this from succeeding.
/etc/motd is a script that generates the motd on any somewhat vrecent version of ubuntu, it is not just that static file. On ubuntu server, one of the things it includes is an ad for landscape. you won't see it on Ubuntu desktop.
Google doesn't have a strategy to serve ads on android? sure they do, it's called a web browser. Google has the largest ad network on the internet, and just about every time you view a webpage google gets a cut of it. It doesn't matter whether you use an android device or an iOS device or a windows computer or a potato, google makes money.
if google can encourage people to use the internet more by selling smartphones, they win. The point of android is not to cannibalize iOS market share, it's to eliminate the dumbphone. They don't want anybody to ever be without internet.
Android gives Google a large number of devices where Google is the default search engine and (assuming we're talking about the "official version") always will be.
That's a big win - default search in the browser is something they and others pay a lot for and for (official) Android devices Google aren't paying that. The reason that they pay that money to others (including Apple) is that that's a way of serving and selling ads to the mobile platform.
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Googles strategy with android is to serve ads but they do not have a model to get that to work.
Until they do that Android is not a win.
Android is winning for Google in a massive way once you understand their goal. Google's Android and even Chrome strategies are that _no one_ should win at the OS/platform level. They never want another Windows, or Mac, or IE, or anything that prevents them from leveraging the open web because it's fronted with proprietary code that can block them.
The best way to win at that game is to either force the market to adopt the system they can manage ("with Google" approved Android phones and the market) or make the web the only worthwhile source of truth among a hodge-podge of OSes that try to bolt on proprietary components. Even the major commercial forks of Android have not yet proved to derail this from succeeding.
Just want to point out that, literally, this implies you prefer Windows (no ads by default) to Ubuntu (ad for Launchpad in /etc/motd).
I don't see an ad:
Not sure if you're being facetious, but recent versions of Ubuntu have included by default an advertisement for Landscape (not Launchpad, mea culpa):
http://www.ralree.com/2011/11/25/removing-advertising-from-u...
If this is no longer the case that's great. :)
/etc/motd is a script that generates the motd on any somewhat vrecent version of ubuntu, it is not just that static file. On ubuntu server, one of the things it includes is an ad for landscape. you won't see it on Ubuntu desktop.
Again it's only a win if they figure out a way to monetize on it and they haven't yet. I doubt they will, but lets see.
Google doesn't have a strategy to serve ads on android? sure they do, it's called a web browser. Google has the largest ad network on the internet, and just about every time you view a webpage google gets a cut of it. It doesn't matter whether you use an android device or an iOS device or a windows computer or a potato, google makes money.
if google can encourage people to use the internet more by selling smartphones, they win. The point of android is not to cannibalize iOS market share, it's to eliminate the dumbphone. They don't want anybody to ever be without internet.
That's not a strategy for mobile.
If what you said where true more of their revenue would come from mobile. It doesn't, look it up.
That's not true.
Android gives Google a large number of devices where Google is the default search engine and (assuming we're talking about the "official version") always will be.
That's a big win - default search in the browser is something they and others pay a lot for and for (official) Android devices Google aren't paying that. The reason that they pay that money to others (including Apple) is that that's a way of serving and selling ads to the mobile platform.