Ben Bajarin: “Google Does Not Equal Android”
Ben Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies, Inc , has written an interesting piece on Android dominates and to what extend this may be of benefit to Google.
According to Bajarin, Android is not a platform in the same way as iOS or Windows are platforms. Android is a technology which enables companies to create platforms.
Samsung is using Android to create a platform. Amazon has used Android to create a platform.
Ben Bajarin:
I’m fond of saying that Android in its purest form is not a platform. It is a technology which enables companies to create platforms. Samsung is using Android to create a platform. Amazon has used Android to create a platform. Nearly every major OEM in China is using Android to create a platform. And Google is using Android to create a Google specific platform. All of these companies and more are taking Android to create their own platform and their own ecosystems. There is no single unified Android codebase which is dominating the world. There is no single Android app store, there is no single Android ecosystem. What does exist is a vast array of different platforms and different ecosystem running this underlying kernel called Android.
More importantly, Ben Bajarin posits that it’s not a forgone conclusion that Google will benefit significantly from Android in the long term.
According to Bajarin:
What remains unclear is how Google can benefit, which may not be the point or even necessary, from the landscape Android is enabling. They have all but given up in China. iOS devices are worth more to them in every major developed market. They would of course love to see this change but there is no evidence to suggest otherwise. So Android dominants the low-end of the tablet and smartphone market and commodity connected electronics. Time will tell in what ways this benefits Google. But as I mentioned, it may not the point of Android or even necessary for Google.
Google does not equal Android. You understand this when you can see the forest in the trees.
