[Johngibb]

The difference is with Amazon you're the customer, and the device and content are the products. With android, _you_ are the product and the advertisers are the customers. This distinction means that Apple/Amazon's interests are more aligned with consumers than Google's.

[manmal]

No, you are not the product sigh. Google has to keep users satisfied as much as they can, and they do. E.g., AFAIK, they downrank ads which point to sites which people leave too early again, even if they would generate them more revenue.

Ad clicks is the product, and not users' data. If you setup an ads campaign, you will see that the adwords experience is not nearly as polished as other Google products - and why should they care, businesses just HAVE to use adwords to gain traction. If anything, Google treats its ordinary users as clients, and forces its advertising monopoly on advertisers.

[ryannielsen]

Ad clicks is the product, and not users' data.

Google's using data they aggregate about me to pick and choose which ads I should see, ideally optimizing for ones that I'll click on. Those clicks are sold to advertisers.

Google's selling our clicks to advertisers. We are the product they're selling.

[Johngibb]

Exactly. It's not a bad thing, it's a pretty fundamental basis of the Internet and the reason we get so much for free. At the end of the day it is still a win for consumers. I'm glad it works that way, since I'd rather view ads then pay a monthly subscription to Google (or would I? At least most people would).

[runjake]

The difference is with Amazon you're the customer, and the device and content are the products.

Funny, my Kindle has ads. I believe you mean IF you pay the $15 extra, and for all I know is that $15 allows you to turn off ads. As far as I know, it doesn't preclude Amazon from selling your information and choices to third parties. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Johngibb]

You still paid for the device generating revenue directly to Amazon. The ads are just supplementing a discount on the product. Google is not making money off of the Android devices they don't sell, although it is changing as they start building and selling their own hardware.

[option_greek]

"This distinction means that Apple/Amazon's interests are more aligned with consumers than Google's."

Not necessarily. It simply means they have more incentive tying you down to their 'product' and stifle any competition. Google on the other hand couldn't care less about what device you use as long as you use their services.

[chii]

so instead of tying you down to the device, they tie you down to their services. In my eyes, thats not too different.

At least with a physical device, you may be able to subvert any ill intentions.

[icebraining]

They do? Then they do a crappy job at it, since when I moved out of Gmail and GReader and when I get something on Google Docs, I could export my data in standard formats.

You should really tell them they're screwing their tying down plans with their Data Liberation initiative, the Google Takeout and all those APIs.

[gizzlon]

With android, _you_ are the product and the advertisers are the customers

uhm..what? There's no ads in android itself, and I almost never look at ads on my phone..

[Johngibb]

Googles not making any revenue off you directly, yet they're paying engineers to work on it. They're making money somewhere - it's off of the ads you you see while you likely use google's services.

Please note that I don't think this is a bad thing, and I love and use Google's products myself very happily. But there is a difference between Google who is collecting revenue from advertisers, and Amazon/Apple who are making their money primarily from consumers.