There may appear to be no love lost between Apple and Google these days, but the search giant’s CEO still appears to appreciate the dough they’re seeing from search on the iPhone -- at the same time as he brags about selling upwards of 200,000 new Android handsets each day.
CNET News is reporting on Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who took part in a 40-minute question and answer session at the inaugural Techonomy event in Lake Tahoe, California on Wednesday, where he claimed that 200,000 Android-based devices are now being sold each day.
"The number was about 100,000 (a day) about two months ago," Schmidt said. "It looks like Android is not just phenomenal but incredibly phenomenal in its growth rate. God knows how long that will continue."
While Google doesn’t see revenue from Android itself because it’s open-source, they reap the rewards in other ways, such as search -- including their competitor, the iPhone.
"Trust me that revenue is large enough to pay for all of Android's activities and a whole bunch more," the CEO said. "I should also say that we love the success of the iPhone because the iPhone also uses Google's search and we get a chunk of that revenue when people search on the iPhone.
"People are finally beginning to figure out how successful Android is," Schmidt beamed.
Google is hoping to extend that success to Chrome OS, which is aimed at the netbook class of portable computers, as well as the concept of cloud computing. "People who believe in cloud computing, believe in the benefits of Web computing and who are Chrome users will be the target market," Schmidt explained. "It's probably a large market.
"I think it is improper to be skeptical of Android and I think it is proper to be skeptical of Chrome OS," he concluded.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
