Home Business Google’s Android made $22bn in profits out of $31bn revenue: Oracle Corp

Google’s Android made $22bn in profits out of $31bn revenue: Oracle Corp

Android is perhaps Google’s primary software package. Since it first launched, the Android OS has become the leading platform for mobiles and tablets. Analysts suggest it now has a 75% share of the mobile market. Now a lawyer for Oracle Corp has stated the operating system has made $31 billion since Google launched it.

This was stated in the latest hearing between Google and Oracle Corp. Oracle Corp opened a lawsuit against Google for copyright infringement. When Google developed the Android platform, it used some of Oracle’s (originally Sun) Java technologies. The Android included 37 Java APIs.  However, no Java licensing deal was ever reached with Sun before Oracle acquired Sun.

Oracle continued with the development of Java. Google and Oracle could still not reach a licensing deal for Java. Consequently, Oracle opened a lawsuit against Google regarding Java patent infringements.

Since then the companies have been locked in legal disputes about Java. The Supreme Court initially ruled in Google’s favor. However, Oracle has since appealed; and the Court ruled in its favor. Then it ruled that the structure of the API was copyrightable.

The Google vs. Oracle saga has continued with Oracle now expanding claims to cover more recent versions of the Android platform. Now Oracle lawyer Annette Hurst has revealed revenue details about the Android platform. The lawyer revealed that Android had generated revenue of $31 billion and $22 billion in profit. She stated, “Look at the extraordinary magnitude of commerciality here.”

Google never expected Oracle to reveal such figures, and the company declined to comment on them. Some might be surprised to hear such figures as Google doesn’t charge a license fee for Android manufacturers. So the revenue has been generated by advertising and Google Play, and Oracle also claims that Google paid Apple $1 billion to keep its search engine the default one on the iPhone’s Search Bar.

Google requested that the revealed Android figures remain disclosed. However, the transcript disappeared from the court records. The figures might strengthen Oracle’s case.