[tensafefrogs]

Google doesn't care if android is a "second-rate" OS. Google makes money from people using google. More smart phones = good for google, regardless of the OS the phone runs. Android has been hugely successful in getting phone carriers away from their antiquated systems (remember life before the iPhone?).

Yes, the iPhone is massively successful, but there's billions of people in the world who will never own one, and that's the market that Android is capturing so well. And to do that, they don't need to be perfect.

[mirkules]

Yes! People often lose sight of what is Google's goal compared to what is Apple's goal. The bulk of Apple's profit is in iDevices (hardware) and services (iTunes, AppStore, etc).

Google's core business is ads. They sell ads by getting as many people to use their services as possible. More devices running any Android directly translates into more money from ads, and I think this article entirely misses this point.