Mutual back-scratching
The sudden ubiquity of Google's mobile phone operating system Android hasn't come as a great surprise. Google put the pieces in place for an industry-wide collaboration years ago and competing OSs like Symbian and Windows Phone are in a period of transition. But the wholesale move to Android by handset-makers and operators is nonetheless remarkable.
A report in paidcontent/moconews claims to shed some light on the reasons for this success: according to its sources Google is offering ad revenue sharing deals to operators and some handset makers.
There has been a stampede by operators and handset-makers to have a greater stake in the services side of mobile phones as both hardware and network access become ever-more commoditised. It's easy to see how a piece of the advertising action on Android phones would make that OS a lot more appealing to them.
But Google wants something in return for this largesse, according to the report, only offering the deal if other Google apps, like Gmail, are preinstalled. The reporter could get no comment from either Google nor any operators or handset-makers.
If true, these sorts of deals make the acquisition of mobile advertising giant AdMob even more of a no-brainer for Google. However, they could very well be used as evidence against it in the FTC investigation into the acquisition.
Google has its fingers in a lot of pies these days and there's nothing competition authorities like less that seeing a company use its dominant position in one sector to restrict competition in it and others - just ask Microsoft and Intel. If Google is using its online advertising dominance to give Android an advantage over other mobile OSs, it could be asked to answer some pretty awkward questions before long.
