Charles Arthur, reporting for The Guardian:
Android generated less than $550m in revenues for Google between 2008 and the end of 2011, if figures provided by the search giant as part of a settlement offer with Oracle ahead of an expected patent and copyright infringement trial are an accurate guide.The figures also suggest that Apple devices such as the iPhone, which use products such as its Maps as well as Google Search in its Safari browser, generated more than four times as much revenue for Google as its own handsets in the same period.
This isn't the least bit surprising. Yes, Google's mobile operating system is doing well with many daily activations, but the corporation is not taking in any profit from it. Google makes money mainly from their search engine since it's literally the biggest website on the entire Internet, but their attempts at operating systems -- whether it be Chrome OS or Android -- have not lead anywhere. They saw the cloud approaching and envisioned Chrome OS being exactly what people would want: their entire digital lives in the cloud with no way to lose anything. But they acted too soon.
Yes, the cloud has arrived and is definitely the future, but Chrome OS was just another passing phase that left with the netbooks. I highly doubt Android will end up like this, but Google should work harder on the OS since it has a lot of potential and could turn into quite a profitable item. Sadly, I don't think they're going to do this. iOS won the battle and Android is far behind, no matter the daily activations.
So yeah, Android is not lucrative. But then again, Google doesn't always seek to make money.