Google’s primary source of income comes from advertising. But according to latest data concerning its most ‘popular’ mobile platform on the planet, it looks like Android is fast becoming its biggest revenue generator. This disclosure was made according to a lawyer overseeing the Google vs Oracle case. Specifically, that Google was able to garner a figure of $31 billion in revenue and $22 billion in profit from its Android operating system. The lawyer, who belonged to Oracle, had disclosed the numbers, of which Google was definitely displeased, citing that these numbers were strictly confidential and should not have been revealed to the public.
During the ongoing lawsuit taking place between Google and Oracle, the former’s lawyers stated the following:
“Google does not publicly allocate revenues or profits to Android separate and apart from Google’s general business. That non-public financial data is highly sensitive, and public disclosure could have significant negative effects on Google’s business.”
While Oracle was able to reveal how much money Google was able to make through licensing its mobile platform to a plethora number of manufacturers out there, the company did not dig into details on how Google is able to obtain these numbers. However, if we compare the tech giant to one of its biggest nemesis in the smartphone hardware and software race Apple, then the company actually earned less money from Android throughout its existence than Apple earned from iPhone sales in fourth quarter of 2015. According to the latest figures, Apple’s iPhone were able to reel in $32.2 billion in revenue for that single quarter.
Oracle’s lawsuit, which was filed in 2010, details that Google was using a modified version of Java, an entity owned by Oracle itself. Therefore it was entitled to receive compensation for Google’s use of the same code in Android. Google won an early ruling, but additional appeals overturned the decision and ruled in favor of Oracle. Last year, the US Supreme Court had declined to hear Google’s latest appeal, leaving the ruling in Oracle’s favor intact.
The ongoing case will now focus on arguments surrounding the amount of money that Oracle is entitled to receive in damages, and if Google actually earned a revenue of 31 billion, then Oracle is definitely going to have a nice pay day for itself once the entire lawsuit saga has been cleared.