Everything You Wanted To Know About Google’s Android

Well, sort of. If you’re a developer you can get that information on the Android site. But if you’re interested in the history of Android, how much Google may have paid for the platform, and its hypothetical outlook, you can read this long Wired article. (You can also read my short riff on it in Local Mobile Search.)

According to Nielsen Mobile, Google already has a commanding lead in mobile search:

1. Google (61%)
2. Yahoo! (18%)
3. MSN (5%)

One could thus argue that Google doesn’t need Android to succeed to win in mobile. Indeed, there are tough competitors and skeptics that Google faces there: “frenemy” Apple, Nokia, and ambivalent or even hostile US carriers.

While Google has made a big, very public bet on Android, it can afford to take a long-term view of mobile. Unlike a startup with limited funding, Google could wait a decade for Android to pay dividends. And by then mobile search will almost certainly have surpassed the desktop in volume, if not in monetization.

If you want to hear the most practical discussion of mobile search and mobile SEO come to SMX Local-Mobile, where you’ll learn best practices for this emerging and ultimately critical arena.