Amazon's (AMZN) Effort to Hide Android Could Harm Google (GOOG)
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Today's paradox: the best Android tablet on the market is the least connected to the Android operating system. Discuss...
Anyone following the tech market knows about the Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle Fire, the online retailer's response to the burgeoning media tablet market. The device runs on Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android OS, something users of the device may not even know.
Google introduced Android in 2007 and made it open in an attempt to gain new sources for clicked ads. That plan is now backfiring somewhat: companies like Amazon and Chinese companies Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Tencent Holdings are certainly using Android, but are skipping the traditional add-ons like Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube Google was hoping would garner more attention.
In particular, Amazon's Kindle Fire includes none of those apps. Amazon even uses its own App Store in lieu of Google's Marketplace. Like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon tightly controls what goes in and what comes out of the store.
With mobile ad revs expected to climb from an impressive $3.3 billion in 2010 to a more impressive $20.6 billion by 2015, Google is poised to lose plenty if others adopt Amazon's approach to Android. Recent data has the average user using mobile apps for 94 minutes per day compared with 72 minutes of using a browser to accomplish a similar function. Those numbers were just about equal last year. With so few of Google's apps included in the development of Android, a reduction in income should be no surprise.
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) is also developing the Android-based Streak Pro, a device which will be sold in China and run Baidu's Yi, a suite which opts to run Baidu's own search, music, maps, and other programs. Another big player noted in a Bloomberg article was Facebook. The social network giant might choose to keep Android in the background in favor of a setup that focuses more on social aspects and applications.
One change Google might make to combat this is its agreement model. Developers can opt to use all-or-nothing of Google's apps when signing up to run Android. Should a developer want to include Gmail or YouTube, it might also be stuck highlighting Google Maps and Google Talk -- just two of the many apps it might not want to include. Should Google choose more of an a la carte approach, who knows if more developers would keep Gmail and other apps at the forefront.
Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) acquisition of Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) -- still in the works -- may give the company the ability to come up with a more formidable opponent for Amazon's Kindle Fire.
Shares of Google are down about 0.5 percent Tuesday.
Anyone following the tech market knows about the Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle Fire, the online retailer's response to the burgeoning media tablet market. The device runs on Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android OS, something users of the device may not even know.
Google introduced Android in 2007 and made it open in an attempt to gain new sources for clicked ads. That plan is now backfiring somewhat: companies like Amazon and Chinese companies Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Tencent Holdings are certainly using Android, but are skipping the traditional add-ons like Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube Google was hoping would garner more attention.
In particular, Amazon's Kindle Fire includes none of those apps. Amazon even uses its own App Store in lieu of Google's Marketplace. Like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon tightly controls what goes in and what comes out of the store.
With mobile ad revs expected to climb from an impressive $3.3 billion in 2010 to a more impressive $20.6 billion by 2015, Google is poised to lose plenty if others adopt Amazon's approach to Android. Recent data has the average user using mobile apps for 94 minutes per day compared with 72 minutes of using a browser to accomplish a similar function. Those numbers were just about equal last year. With so few of Google's apps included in the development of Android, a reduction in income should be no surprise.
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) is also developing the Android-based Streak Pro, a device which will be sold in China and run Baidu's Yi, a suite which opts to run Baidu's own search, music, maps, and other programs. Another big player noted in a Bloomberg article was Facebook. The social network giant might choose to keep Android in the background in favor of a setup that focuses more on social aspects and applications.
One change Google might make to combat this is its agreement model. Developers can opt to use all-or-nothing of Google's apps when signing up to run Android. Should a developer want to include Gmail or YouTube, it might also be stuck highlighting Google Maps and Google Talk -- just two of the many apps it might not want to include. Should Google choose more of an a la carte approach, who knows if more developers would keep Gmail and other apps at the forefront.
Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) acquisition of Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) -- still in the works -- may give the company the ability to come up with a more formidable opponent for Amazon's Kindle Fire.
Shares of Google are down about 0.5 percent Tuesday.
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