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5 years ago today, Google acquired Android Inc.
- bmalicoat 16y agoDoesn't seem like it was that long ago. Interesting that over time people started to believe Google itself created Android, when it's actually closer to being a hiptop successor.
- paul 16y agoWhat does it mean for "Google itself" to have created Android? The product they acquired was fairly different from what's out there today. To me, this is a good example of a very successful talent acquisition.
- kjksf 16y agoMore evolved? Yes. Using a different monetization strategy? Yes. But different? I don't think so. The technological foundation of Android (linux for the kernel, small C library and functionality-rich runtime for a custom VM supporting Java-ish programming language) is the same today as it was 5 years ago and is just an evolution of what Sidekick did in 2002. Sure, they made lots of technical progress, added bunch of APIs, polished the UI, changed the business model, but technology is the same, just improved (like you would expect after 5 years).
- ww520 16y agoThink of what Microsoft had had at hand when they acquired Danger/Sidekick, and where they would be today if they didn't decide to rewrite the whole thing. Rewrites of religion motivated or language motivated don't end up well often. Luckily Google didn't decide to rewrite Android just because some people don't like Java.
- hboon 16y agoBut they like Java.
- bmalicoat 16y agokjksf summed it up nicely. Google obviously provided a ton of capital but it was Rubin, using what he learned when building the hiptop, that gave the spark to the whole project.
- wmf 16y agoThat's not surprising, considering that "Android has operated under a cloak of secrecy".
- TotlolRon 16y agoTyrell Corporation created the Androids. Everybody knows that.
- bl4k 16y agoInteresting anecdote about the Android acquisition: Larry and Sergey bought the company without telling Eric Schmidt about it[1]. Google moved into the mobile market on a whim. Google's strategy seem a lot more planned and methodical from the outside. [1] From a Schmidt press conference last year: "Android purchase, he didn’t even notice Larry and Sergey bought it." - http://searchengineland.com/live-blogging-sergey-brin-eric-schmidt-talking-search-with-the-press-27380 http://searchengineland.com/live-blogging-sergey-brin-eric-s...
- manvsmachine 16y agoFor some reason, that doesn't really surprise me. I mean, GMail was basically a whim, and I kinda got that same feeling when Wave came out. The Android acquisition could just be considered like a 20% project, but scaled to the CEO level.
- PaulGram 16y agoWhen you have that sort of money to burn, you don't exactly need any sort of cohesive longterm strategy. You can pretty much take a lot of speculative long shots as they've shown, and fail often.
- ZeroGravitas 16y agoThat might just be the kind of thing you have to say when your on the board of a rival smartphone manufacturer at the time your company starts planning a rival.
- jonknee 16y agoApple wasn't yet a smartphone maker at the time of the Android purchase (this was 2005, the iPhone didn't come out until 2007).
- aswanson 16y agoI think this is the only acquisition they have made that makes sense in retrospect.
- dantheman 16y agoGoogle Maps and Google Earth were great acquisitions.
- TotlolRon 16y agoI think I saw a video on YouTube saying otherwise. But I may be wrong.
- aswanson 16y agoIs that the one that said it was finally cash flow positive after half a decade? http://www.webtvwire.com/analysts-claim-youtube-on-course-for-massive-loss-in-2009-the-site-impossible-to-monetize/ http://www.webtvwire.com/analysts-claim-youtube-on-course-fo...
- TotlolRon 16y agoNope. I think it was the one explaining that YouTube is the world's second largest search engine as well as first search choice for an entire generation or something along these lines. But I'm not sure cause I only read between the lines.