Google: Android searches up 300% over first half of 2010

Mobile searches across Google's Android operating system increased 300 percent over the first six months of 2010, with the digital services giant adding that its mobile traffic has grown 500 percent over the last two years. "When the web is better, more people use it more often. And that means they search more often," said Google senior vice president of product management Jonathan Rosenberg during the company's second quarter earnings call Thursday. "Android is a leading example of this." According to Rosenberg, the web browser is the most popular application on the Android platform. "What do [users] do there?" he said. They search more than they ever have."

Asked how much Google invests in Android, Rosenberg said development spending "isn't material for the company. Some of the key products have not been developed by Google at all--like the [Motorola] Droid X. The entire ecosystem is exploding." Android now accounts for 13.0 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, according to data issued last week by market research firm comScore--although Research In Motion's BlackBerry operating system remains the dominant smartphone platform in the U.S., representing 41.7 percent of the market, its market share dropped 0.4 percent during the three-month period under the microscope as Android increased 4.0 percent. Android was the sole platform to grow its market share during that time.

Google posted earnings of $1.84 billion in Q2 2010, up 24 percent year-over-year but below Wall Street estimates. Revenues increased to $6.82 billion, also a 24 percent jump over the second quarter of 2009. "In mobile, our revenue continues to grow as advertisers increasingly opt into their mobile-specific campaigns, and with the successful completion of the AdMob transaction in Q2, our business is gaining momentum And so we have a very competitive mobile advertising platform now," said Google chief financial officer Patrick Pichette. "And of course, underpinning our growth is the success of the Android platform itself with over, as we announced a couple of weeks ago, 160,000 devices activated daily. That's two every second. And it creates an even larger base of data-centric smartphone users."

For more on Google's Q2 earnings:
- read this TechCrunch article [1]
- see more Q2 earnings news here [2] [1]

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Google introduces do-it-yourself Android [4] app tool
Google's next Android [5] update targets user interface revamp
Google unveils Android [6] 2.2 in escalating war against Apple
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