2009 Year in Review: Google emerges as a viable threat to Apple's dominance

No mobile superpower experienced a more dramatic evolution in 2009 than Google--the company made headlines throughout the year, announcing a host of new services, partners and acquisitions that combined to position the digital services giant as a legitimate threat to the continued dominance of rival Apple. The cornerstone of Google's mobile ambitions remains Android, its Linux-based open software platform first introduced in November 2007. After a relatively slow start, Android emerged as a major force over the past 12 months--Motorola is staking the reinvention of its handset unit on the operating system, and device makers including Samsung, LG and HTC have all introduced Android smartphones. Even Barnes & Noble's nook ereader device runs on the Android platform. "Android adoption is about to explode," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said during the company's third quarter earnings call in mid-October, contending all the "necessary conditions" are now in place to galvanize global growth of the OS.

Android truly achieved critical mass just hours prior to October's CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment 2009 conference, when news broke that Verizon Wireless would partner with Google for a series of Android handsets and applications, a game-changing collaboration bringing together two longtime rivals that frequently clashed over both business and policy. Touting the operator's devotion to an open network and open applications, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said the November release of the Motorola-produced Droid heralds the beginning of a multi-year roadmap promising to yield myriad Android smartphones and applications. The Droid's impact on the mobile software community was swift and sweeping--Android application project starts increased 94 percent between September and October according to mobile in-application analytics provider Flurry, a leap attributed to the device's launch.

In addition, Google radically reshaped the mobile navigation and mobile advertising segments as 2009 wound down. The late October announcement of Google Maps Navigation, a free GPS-based application including turn-by-turn directions, voice-enabled search and real-time traffic updates, cast into serious question whether competing navigation service providers can continue charging $5 or $10 per month for similar solutions. Days later, Google acquired mobile ad network AdMob for a staggering $750 million: Schmidt said the agreement will herald an expansion in ad sales for mobile applications running on Android as well as Apple's iPhone. "One the key success points for the iPhone was this enormous development of apps, and particularly free apps, which are advertising supported," Schmidt told Bloomberg. "Now that we have our Android platform coming out, and really with some serious partners behind it, it will also be important to have that be true for Android as well as the others." According to IDC analyst Karsten Weide, the combination of Google and AdMob will create a mobile advertising giant dominating between 30 and 40 percent of the total market segment.

Nor did Google rested on its laurels as a mobile solutions provider in 2009. More than a million wireless subscribers signed up for Google's new mobile friend finder Latitude in its first week, according to Vic Gundotra, the company's vice president of engineering, who cited the service as a prime example of the kinds of applications enabled by the emergence of more powerful mobile web browsers and software developed to better exploit the technological capabilities of wireless devices. Google also remains the gold standard in mobile search--according to browser development firm Opera Software, Google is consistently the most visited mobile website in the U.S. Google also expanded its free Google Analytics web traffic data tool to smartphones--other mobile efforts of note include Google Maps for mobile, Google Product Search and Google Mobile App for iPhone.

Looking ahead at 2010, Google appears poised to raise the stakes once again with the rumored release of its own branded Android smartphone. Google has confirmed only that it is presently trialing a new Android-based device, although employees testing the product have referred to it as a "Google phone." The Wall Street Journal reports the handset is called the Nexus One and adds Google designed virtually all the software powering the device, from applications to the user interface of each screen. It's clear Apple is feeling the pressure--multiple insider sources indicate Apple also was in talks to acquire AdMob, a defensive move to keep Google from obtaining inside information on the workings of its App Store. Moreover, Google reportedly sought to purchase digital music startup Lala.com before Apple scooped up the firm. No wonder Schmidt resigned from the Apple board in August, an exit credited to increasing competition between the two technology titans--their skirmish is just heating up.