An Android lawsuit between between Google and Oracle has now dragged on for more than five years. Oracle alleges that Google has infringed some of its Java patents and copyrights in its mobile operating system and is seeking damages. The case this week revealed some interesting information about how much money Google may have made to date from Android. A lawyer for Oracle this week said that Android has so far generated US$31 billion in revenue and US$22 billion in profit for Google.
While Google has never publicly disclosed how much it earns from Android, Oracle used confidential internal financial documents marked “Attorney’s Eyes Only” that are part of the court case to come up with its numbers. Oracle did not reveal its exact calculations but it likely used revenues from ads displayed on Android phones as well as from Google Play, its mobile app store.
Needless to say, Google is less than pleased about the public disclosure. It has asked the court to redact and seal portions of the public transcript.
With this Android lawsuit dragging on as long as it has, Oracle stands to be awarded over US$1 billion in damages should it win. It could also receive more; Oracle had asked for up to US$6.1 billion back in 2011. Meanwhile, Google is expected to move to an open version of Java in time for the next major version of Android to avoid having future versions dragged into the case.
Android Wear, the wearable component of Android, has likely contributed little to the overall revenues. Not only have overall Android Wear device sales been underwhelming, but advertising and app sales have yet to make a real impact on wearables.
Source : Bloomberg