YouTube would be a Fortune 500 company on its own.
Every single reliable indicator is that Youtube is still barely profitable. But even then, they make their money from Google ads.
Android is installed on over 2.5 billion devices worldwide. If they couldn't figure out how to monetize that, then they would have no business being in business.
And it came out in the Oracle trial that Android has only made a $17 billion dollar profit since it existed.
Google doesn’t need Android to be incredibly profitable for it to be a strategic asset to their business. In fact, you’re making my point that Google’s monopoly undermines the free market and stifles innovation. If Google had to change a modest fee for Android, I’m sure it would still be hugely popular, rake in billions of dollars more, and provide niches for other competitors to flourish.
(Sidebar: I hadn’t seen the “$17 billion profit” figure before. By any reasonable standard, that is a staggering amount of profit.)
Considering that’s about what Apple makes in one or two quarters of iPhone sales, that type of profit over 7 or 8 years while commanding 3-4x the market share isn’t that great.
Every single reliable indicator is that Youtube is still barely profitable. But even then, they make their money from Google ads.
Android is installed on over 2.5 billion devices worldwide. If they couldn't figure out how to monetize that, then they would have no business being in business.
And it came out in the Oracle trial that Android has only made a $17 billion dollar profit since it existed.