Google: Android was our best acquisition ever
Google Vice President David Lawee praises the 2005 purchase of the makers of the mobile operating system as its "best deal ever." Do you agree? Voice your opinion in our poll.
Out of all of Google's acquisitions, the company's acquisition of the maker of the Android mobile operating system was its "best deal ever," a company executive said at an industry conference yesterday.
Speaking at the Stanford Accel Symposium yesterday, David Lawee, Google vice president of corporate development, reportedly praised the 2005 buy of Android for an undisclosed sum. His comments were first reported by VentureBeat.
It's hard to argue with Lawee's contention. Five years after the acquisition, Android is appealing to customers around the world. During the second quarter alone, the mobile operating system was running on 33 percent of all the smartphones sold during the period. During the same quarter, Research In Motion captured 28 percent market share, while Apple tallied 22 percent share. More importantly for Google, most researchers believe that Android will continue to enjoy success.
According to market research firm IDC, Android could own 24.6 percent of the worldwide mobile-OS market by 2014. If that happens, it would be ahead of RIM's BlackBerry OS and Apple's iOS, and trail only Nokia's Symbian OS for mobile dominance.
In a similar study released by Gartner, the research firm said it expects Android to have 29.6 percent market share by 2014, compared with 30.2 percent for Symbian. Gartner said iOS will have just 14.9 percent market share in 2014, while RIM will trail, with 11.7 percent of the market.
As successful as Android has been, it might be difficult to choose a single Google acquisition that has trumped all others. Over the years, the company has acquired many companies--YouTube, DoubleClick, and AdMob, to name a few--whose technologies have become the backbones of some of its best-known services.