Eric Schmidt: Android Winning Mobile War

Google Chairman and former CEO, Eric Schmidt, laid down some strong words about his company and his opponents today. In an interview with Bloomberg, Schmidt commented on the recent uptick in sales for Android devices. He said “This is a huge platform change; this is of the scale of 20 years ago — Microsoft versus Apple. We’re winning that war pretty clearly now.”

Schmidt’s remarks come shortly after the announcement by Gartner Inc. that Google managed to grab 72 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2012. Schmidt also says that more than 1.3 million Android devices are activated every day.

It is important to note, however, that Google and Apple have very different business strategies. Google offers Android as an open platform that any manufacturer or developer can deploy to a piece of hardware. Google profits by serving ads and harvesting information that is collected from users of said devices. Apple, on the other hand, makes money selling devices and selling applications. Remember, Apple gets a cut of every application that is sold on the App Store, and Apple is clearly winning on that front. According to one report, Apple outsells Google through apps by a factor of 78%

So who is really winning? It’s hard to say. Google does, indeed have the advantage when it comes to device sales worldwide. But how big are their profits? Both companies are tech giants that demand respect.

Unlike Schmidt, I don’t think that the mobile war is over, or even being won by Google. If Android can continue this trend, I might change my mind, but until then, it’s hard to bet against Apple. Developers will go where they can make money, and right now they can make money on the iOS app store. I bet, in the long run, consumers will follow the apps.