The chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, has come out with a statement in the media after the company’s popular mobile operating system Android came into the spotlight regarding one of its customers, HTC, who lost a patent infringement ruling to Apple. Schmidt said that android will be the new preferred platform for the market in Asia as the prices of the mobile devices running on the mobile OS are dropping steadily due to the tight competition among the manufacturers of these devices. The chairman described the current times as exciting for the prospects of mobile technology and related industries, saying that most of the new and innovative software and ideas will be applied first to mobiles, which will increase the popularity of mobile phones as a trendsetting device, he said at the Mobile Revolution conference held by Google on Tuesday.
According to him, the two biggest contributors in the rise of mobile devices were the innovations made in fiber networks and Moore’s Law. As compared to just 18 months ago, the connection speeds on smartphones and tablets have increased by 60%, and it is expected that these devices are going to get much better along with decreasing in costs during the next decade. Schmidt expects that more than 3 billion smartphones will be activated this year in Asia alone. He also predicted that smartphones are quickly gaining on PC sales and they can overtake the market in the coming year.
However, it is worth noting that the ongoing patent lawsuits by companies like Microsoft, Oracle and Apple, in which the company has been involved, can potentially stop the momentum of Android’s rise. This is especially the case as the phone makers who use Android might be charged licensing fees for using the platform if the outcome of the cases doesn’t go favorably for Google. When asked to comment on the issue, Schmidt referred to these legal proceedings as fun and said that they stemmed from the company’s success.
He said that there has lately been a boom in the number of Android devices in the market and the company’s competitors are trying to respond to this through lawsuits as they cannot match them in innovation. However, despite Schmidt’s confidence and optimism, phone makers who offer Android devices are already attempting to hedge their investments through dealing with Google’s rivals for licensing.
