Expanding on point 1: The question isn't even "Does Google make money from Android." The question is: "What does Google make in a world with Android vs what d

Expanding on point 1: The question isn't even "Does Google make money from Android." The question is: "What does Google make in a world with Android vs what does Google make in a world without Android?" The play with Android is not unlike Chrome: they're making $0 directly from Chrome, but having Chrome has pushed their interests in the browser space in a way that has helped their bottom line. (faster javascript processing leading to more use/more ads within their core products). Without Android, mobile was hurtling toward a paid-app space with not a lot of arbitrary web usage and thus not a lot of ads, and of those ads that remained, the phone makers and/or networks could force terms or lock Google out on a whim. In short, Google as an advertiser has no choice but to spend big to ensure that not only does Apple not win, but that the architecture of authoritative apps does not win. (In Android's lackluster paid-app market I see the same self-sabotage-in-deference-to-the-cash-cow that we see in Microsoft projects that threaten Office/Windows.)