[RuadhanMc]

It's fascinating to see the behemoths (Apple, Microsoft, Google) positioning themselves for the fight ahead. The importance of this fight cannot be understated.

Microsoft won the last fight like this and they have dominated our desktops for 15 years (OK, maybe not all HN devotees) and pocketed gazillions.

Apple are ahead right now (manufacturing handsets, selling software, etc), Google are second and Microsoft are lagging behind in third, but this Motorola deal means that Google might be able to pull ahead of Apple for a period and alienated phone manufacturers who are using Android might flock to Microsoft, inflating their sails a little.

[rbanffy]

> Google might be able to pull ahead of Apple for a period

That would be a huge mistake - and they know it. That's why they made it clear Motorola Mobility will be run as a separate business. It would be unbelievably foolish to hand Microsoft the Android ecosystem and Google is not known to sacrifice long-term profit.

[w1ntermute]

> Apple are ahead right now (manufacturing handsets, selling software, etc)

Uhh, haven't more Android handsets been sold per day than iOS handsets for like the last 6 months?

[RuadhanMc]

Perhaps, but Apple make a ton more money per handset than Google does, so in my mind they are ahead. They also continue to lead design-wise. Manufacturers are still copying Apple products in this space.

[jokermatt999]

I'm not sure I'd agree with that last part. Perhaps hardware to some degree, but Android has lead in terms of software. Look at the intents system, notifications, and their implementation of multiple application support vs iOS. iOS may have the polish, but Android has a very nice system in place when you look at how things work.

[w1ntermute]

Google doesn't (directly) make any money off of any Android handset, so I'd say that's very difficult to assess without knowledge and analysis of the impact Android has had on AdSense revenue, not to mention this money is a continuous stream of revenue following the purchase of an Android phone as opposed to a one-time up-front fee.

[emit_time_n3rgy]

>>Google doesn't (directly) make any money off of any Android handset

And if the info in the follow piece is true, there is an example where money is being 'lost.' This July 19 Computer World article states an interesting piece of info (http://tinyurl.com/3k7mmlq):

"HTC last year entered into a licensing agreement with Microsoft that, according to a report by Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, essentially sends Microsoft $5 every time HTC ships an Android-based device. Asymco analyst Horace Dediu has estimated that Microsoft is now generating $150 million in revenue just from shipments of Android phones, or more than five times the estimated revenue Microsoft has made from selling Windows Phone licenses.."

[MrScruff]

I'm not sure why Google would make much more in Adsense revenue on Android than they would on iOS. I think the primary issue is not conceding control of the platform their revenue is reliant on to a competitor.

[rbanffy]

> I'm not sure why Google would make much more in Adsense revenue on Android than they would on iOS

Aren't iPhone app developers using iAd?

[alex_c]

iPhone app developers tend to use a variety of ad networks, based on whatever pays best. iAds usually has the best CPM, but inventory can be limited - and the fallback is usually AdSense (or... AdMob, which is also Google).

[gtaylor]

I think "ahead" is usually quantified by numbers out in the wild. We, as consumers, don't care about their profits, but we do watch things that are trendy and dominant (which Android is now).