Android Co-Founder Insists It Is Profitable

Google’s vice-president of engineering and co-founder of Android, has stated that Android is profitable for Google. During a talk at D:Mobilized, Rubin insisted that Google are making money from the advertising that Android generates, although the project probably wouldn’t have survived as a startup.

Despite talking up Android’s success, he admitted that Google’s original flagship phone – the Nexus One – failed because the US market wasn’t favourable to a phone bought off the shelf, and a product plan purchased separately. When it came to the competition, he had a few nice words to say about the iPhone. In his opinion, Apple have relaxed their policy for approving apps: “my assumption is Apple is a company that learns from its mistakes.” He wasn’t quite so complimentary about the Windows Phone 7 though, calling it a “package of stuff that was invented before the internet.”

The latest version of the Android platform – ‘Gingerbread’ – has just been released.