Google's foray into the mobile business came up during its fourth-quarter conference calls yesterday, and the company is confident it's pursuing the right path.
"We think there is the potential to actually make this mobile Web better than the PC Web," said Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president, Product Management, in a call with analysts.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company has a lot of evidence that people are moving to data-friendly mobile devices very quickly, with search traffic growing quite a bit faster than on PCs.
Asked about the distribution model around the Nexus One, he said it's really about a new way of buying a phone. "The Nexus One is simply the first of a series of examples where you can essentially purchase a phone online from one or multiple manufacturers order it and have it just work," he said, according to a Seeking Alpha earnings call transcript. "We think that is a natural evolution of a particular model. It does not exclude the other models and I think it is comparable with the retail model and seems to be quite successful."
"So far our partners have understood that message and they have been OK with it and the Nexus One itself of course is a magnificent product."
As for Apple, "I as a former board member have a special spot for Apple in my heart but I will tell you Apple is a very well run company," he said. "They have a lot of very good stuff coming. We have a couple of very good partnerships with them and we also compete with them in a couple of areas. My guess is that is a pretty stable situation for awhile."
Regarding China, Schmidt said Google's business in China today is unchanged. "A reasonably short time from now, we will be making some changes there," he said.
Android in 2009 started with one device and is now at 20 in 48 countries.