Saturday, January 21, 2012

GOOGLE'S ANDROID AND SOCIAL NETWORKING: 'PLUSES' AND MINUSES


Google Plus, the social network platform designed to compete with Facebook, has around 90 million users, the Web giant said Thursday.
That's more than twice as much as Google Plus boasted three months ago when it had about 40 million users, The Associated Press reported.
Google still has a long way to catch up to Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, whose user base climbed to an astonishing 800 million last fall. And not everyone is convinced that Plus will emerge as a significant threat to Facebook.
“The engagement levels on Google Plus are pathetic compared to the larger platforms on social media,"The New York Times quoted Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan as declaring. “The company will argue with different statistics, but most would discount what they say as an overly optimistic view."
Google's quarterly earnings Thursday failed to meet analysts' expectations despite what the Times reported reflected record-breaking revenues of $10.58 billion at the 13-year-old company. One of the concerns was that the search-engine king obtained less money per click on its online advertisements, and increased operating expenses also may have played a factor in Google's declining stock price following its earnings announcement. 
The mobile Android software for smartphones and tablet computers is one of the platforms driving growth at Google, which Fortune has rated the No. 1 company for which to work. CEO Larry Page, the AP reported, said Android is running on 250 million smartphones and other devices. Android, however, may be one of the reasons Google's operating expenses are rising.
"You've got to ask yourself, 'Where is the money going? What are they spending it on?' I have a feeling it is on platforms like Chrome and Android, and things like that," Reuters quoted Fort Pitt Capital analyst Kim Forrest as stating.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is poised to significantly enhance its stake in the wireless market though its pending $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the handset maker. Some analysts, however, are concerned about the deal's impact on Google's financials and whether the acquisition will alienate some handset manufacturers that compete with Motorola Mobility and helped Google get on the map with Android.  
“Motorola really is going to be a tough one to swallow. It’s going to wreck their income statement," the Times quoted BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis as asserting.

Source : http://www.vision2mobile.com/news/2012/01/google-plus-android-growing.aspx

Android share doubles iPhone in U.S., Samsung most popular vendor


Google’s share of the smartphone market in the United States is now nearly double that of Apple’s iPhone according to new data published Friday. A new report from market research firm iGR states that 47% of U.S. smartphone owners have Android devices while 24% own Apple’s iPhone. The company also found that Samsung is the most popular brand among Android users in the U.S. followed by Motorola, HTC and LG. Less than half of Android users researched the mobile OS before purchasing their smartphones according to the study, and 27% said Google’s reputation was a key factor when they made the decision to purchase an Android phone. ”Understanding why consumers select specific brands and certain smartphones is critical to the success of OEMs in the highly competitive U.S. handset market,” iGR Research Analyst Sarah Thoman said in a statement. “While a user’s current handset brand influences the selection of a new Android smartphone, many other factors also come into play. For example, handset display quality and functionality also highly influenced the smartphone purchase decision.” IGR’s press release follows below.
New iGR Research Shows Samsung as Most Preferred Android Device Brand Among Consumers
Consumer Surveys Also Show That 45 Percent of Android Users Researched the OS Prior to Purchase and Specifically Wanted an Android Device
AUSTIN, TX, Jan 20, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — The popularity of the Google Android smartphone operating system (OS) has increased significantly in the last few years. New iGR research shows that, at present, 47 percent of U.S. smartphone users have an Android device, followed by 24 percent who own/use an Apple iPhone. Of the major brands supporting Android, Samsung has the highest brand preference among consumers, followed by Motorola, HTC and LG. ZTE and Huawei ranked toward the bottom of the brands studied, although note that these brands currently sell comparatively lower volumes in the U.S. market.
iGR’s new research also shows that 45 percent of Android users researched the OS prior to purchase and specifically selected an Android device when they bought a new smartphone. It also appears that Google’s reputation is driving Android sales — 27 percent of Android users said that they selected an Android smartphone because they believed that Google was a “reputable company” and therefore inferred that Android must also be reputable.
These findings, as well as others relating to consumers’ Android brand preferences and impressions, are presented in iGR’s new market study Android Brand Preferences: U.S. Consumers, published in January 2012.
“Understanding why consumers select specific brands and certain smartphones is critical to the success of OEMs in the highly competitive U.S. handset market,” says iGR Research Analyst, Sarah Thoman, who authored the study. “While a user’s current handset brand influences the selection of a new Android smartphone, many other factors also come into play. For example, handset display quality and functionality also highly influenced the smartphone purchase decision.”
iGR’s new study, Android Brand Preferences: U.S. Consumers, addresses several key topics:
  • The number of Android smartphones sold in the U.S. in 2011 (by quarter)
  • Why consumers buy Android smartphones
  • The profile of the typical Android smartphone user
  • The handset features users like on Android smartphones
  • How consumers rank Android OEM brands and why
  • How the user’s current device brand impacts that user’s Android smartphone purchase
  • Which Android OEM brands are associated with the major mobile operators
Source : http://www.bgr.com/2012/01/20/android-share-doubles-iphone-in-u-s-samsung-most-popular-vendor/ 

Apple iOS, Google Android feared to be hitting middle age as five year old platforms

A market research group has teamed up with a business analyst to conceptualize the notion that mobile operating systems only last for ten years, peaking after five, an idea that suggests Apple and Google are approaching their apex at middle age and risk an imminent decline.

Market research group Strategy Analytics and RBC Capital Market analyst Mark Sue both highlighted a trend in comparing RIM's beleaguered Blackberry OS, Microsoft's abandoned Windows Mobile, the dead Palm OS and Nokia's now comatose Symbian, all of which were first introduced as smartphone operating systems around 2002.

A graphic produced by Strategy Analytics shows a particularly convincing lines that suggest Apple's iOS and Google's Android might be fated to follow the same paths, given that both turn five later this year.



"History shows that operating systems peak in the middle of a 10-year cycle," Sue wrote in a note to investors, adding that while iOS and Android are both currently selling lots of devices, their "sustainability beyond five years remains to be seen."

The chart doesn't depict why mobile operating systems of the past peaked after just a few years, nor does it delve into details related to market trends, such as the mass conversion of PDAs to smartphones ten years ago, or the tremendous shift from basic feature phones to smartphones going on today.

A brief history of smartphones for analysts 

The Palm OS was actually developed in 1996 to run handheld organizers, and didn't start to become a smartphone platform until the Handspring Treo was introduced in 2002, at which point its underlying technology was already five years old. 

Microsoft's Windows Mobile was similarly an effort to sell the company's Windows CE mobile "handheld PC" platform to drive phones. Its WinCE core similarly originated in 1996 and wasn't used in smartphones until 2002.

Nokia's Symbian also originated as an OS behind pocket organizers, first by Psion in the late 80s. The initial Nokia Symbian smartphones were released in 2001, at which the core technology behind them was already over a decade old. 

RIM's Blackberry OS first originated in the company's pagers in 1999 and started being used in the company's smartphones in 2002. 

That means the world's "old" smartphone operating systems all came into their current role when smartphones began as an observable trend almost exactly ten years ago. 

Their actual "ages" in 2002 ranged from about three to 13 years, and each developed in wildly different circumstances. BlackBerry and Palm OS were originally completely proprietary, essentially embedded operating systems while Windows Mobile (and later Palm OS) were broadly licensed, while Symbian evolved from an embedded OS to a broadly licensed platform to an open source project. 

In addition to these well known smartphone platforms, a variety of embedded platforms created by Motorola, LG, Samsung and other smartphone vendors over the past decade have combined custom code, Linux, Java and Adobe's Flash Lite to deliver smartphone products, all of which also suddenly began to decline in popularity exactly five years ago.

From that perspective, there is zero correlation between age and the sudden nosedive of all these operating systems five years ago, the date Apple introduced the iPhone. 

Unless another company introduces a new product with the ability to suddenly disrupt the public's interest in today's five year old iOS and Android, Apple and Google should not have too much to worry about. 

Other evidence that doesn't support a ten year life span 

Speaking for Strategy Analytics, Alex Spektor, told Fortune in an interview that "no single platform has consistently dominated for eternity. Something better and newer comes along and pushes it out of leadership position."

Spektor also noted that "after operating systems drop from their 5-year peak" their vendors suddenly refresh and replace them, acknowledging such revitalizing efforts such as Palm's webOS in 2009, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 toward the end of 2010, and RIM's efforts to deliver its new QNX-based BlackBerry X last year.

So far, none of these efforts have turned things around; RIM is still struggling to deliver its new OS for its smartphones, while Palm sold itself off to HP and its new technology was largely scuttled due to a management crisis. Microsoft's valiant efforts to promote WP7 over the past year have only resulted in the company losing the remains of its existing market share. 

Nokia's initial efforts to modernize Symbian within an ambitious open source project, and its parallel efforts to launch Maemo/Meego Linux, were both abandoned last year after failing to turn things around quickly enough. None of these efforts were anywhere near reaching a five year apex; they simply failed to introduce the same level of disruption in the market that Apple's iOS caused five years ago. 

Is iOS getting old? 

While all of the original smartphone operating systems now in decline are based on code that is least a decade old this year, Apple's iOS is based on a core platform that outdates all of them. From its kernel to its APIs to its developer tools, the iOS has a direct lineage dating back to 1988, when Steve Jobs first showed off the NeXT Computer

Rather than age, the biggest differentiation between Apple's iOS and the initial wave of smartphone operating systems was that Apple's iOS was derived from a platform-agnostic desktop operating system founded on Unix and an advanced object oriented development system, rather than being an embedded mobile OS with a pedigree of running PDAs, pagers, and handheld organizers.

It was actually this "age" and sophistication that enabled Apple to disrupt the smartphone market with a brand new product, because the iPhone greatly benefited from having a mature kernel, APIs and development tools. 

Google's Android, while based on existing Danger technology and incorporating existing Linux and Java technology, still changed enough of its core design so that it has taken years for the platform to achieve a level of stability and maturity that it can be compared in some respects to Apple's iOS. 

The platform that can, does 

Unlike any other smartphone operating system, iOS still shares significant kernel, API and development tool technology with both the desktop Mac OS X and with other successful mobile devices outside of the smartphone, including iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV. 

HP, Palm, Microsoft and RIM have all failed in their attempts to introduce tablet or handheld PC products beyond smartphones. Even Google's Android platform hasn't managed to drive significant sales of tablets or set top boxes, despite major initiatives over the past two years seeking to achieve that. 

Additionally, when Google attempted to enter the notebook market with Chromebook, it didn't even try to use Android, but rather developed a parallel effort. Similarly, Microsoft's next efforts to sell PCs and tablets will revolve around Windows 8, which bears little in common with its WP7 smartphone platform on a kernel, API or development tool level. 

After expressing morbid concerns about the fate of Apple's nearly five year old iOS, Spektor acknowledged that "the outcome isn’t the same for all platforms."


Source : http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/01/20/apple_ios_google_android_feared_to_be_hitting_middle_age_as_five_year_old_platforms_.html

LG X3 may be Android 4.0 flagship model



LG, not wasting any time, is off and running with plenty of Android for the new year.
Just days after announcing its first 4G LTE Android tablet, the Optimus Pad LTE, details have emerged for a high-end smartphone.
Based on the rumored specifications, LG may be ready to unveil a flagship Android 4.0 handset next month at Mobile World Congress.
According to information obtained by Pocketnow, the LG X3 should boast a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, a massive 1,280x720-pixel 4.7-inch display, and an 8-megapixel camera. Additionally it should have a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, 16GB storage, Bluetooth 4.0, HSPA+ connectivity, NFC, and a 2,000mAh battery. That's not too shabby for a phone with an alleged sub-9mm (0.35-inch) profile.
Even if LG announces the handset at Mobile World Congress we may be a few months away from seeing it touch down in the United States. Indeed, LG has a habit of releasing the same model across various regions, often giving other countries a slight head start. For now, Pocketnow predicts a late spring or early summer release date, possibly with LTE connectivity.
I'm becoming a bigger fan of LG's moves lately, what with the Nitro HDSpectrum, and Viper. As many Android users begin to consider new devices, LG is poised to steal away a bit of Samsung and HTC's market.




Developer Is Building An App Store For Banned Android Apps


An Android developer by the name of Koushik Dutta is building an alternative Android app store which will house the apps that have been banned from Google’s official Android Market. These will include the custom ROMs (customized versions of the Android OS), classic gaming emulators pulled due to copyright complaints, unofficial tethering apps removed at the behest of mobile operators, Visual Voicemail apps, one-click rooting apps, and more.
The developer, who also goes by the name “Koush” online, suggested the idea earlier this month and received hundreds of positive responses in return. Today, he has posted a progress update, showing an early version of the store being built. (See below).
Dutta is well-known in Android hacking circles as member of the CyanogenMod team and the creator of ClockworkMod, a custom recovery console for Android devices. For the uninitiated, these terms refer to customized versions of Android software which users can install on their devices after rooting their phone, a process which gives them complete administrative control over their handset.
Rooting, similar to its iPhone counterpart jailbreaking, has been popularized among the Android community, and today there are many software applications which less technical users (i.e., those without programming knowledge) can use to root their device. It’s still a risky task, however, so proceed with caution – you could turn your phone into a nice paperweight if you screw up.
After rooting, users are able install replacement firmware like CyanogenMod, created by Steve Kondik, which offers a customized version of the Android OS, free from carriers’ control and customizations. There are now over 1 million active users of CyanogenMod. It’s a sizable community.
These users will have access to the new alternative app store when complete, assuming the project stays on track. The screenshot posted today shows a very basic page for app submissions – nothing that looks like a finished product. But it’s promising.
Although modding has always been a popular activity among the geekier Android crowd, it’s interesting that they’re now facing many of the same restrictions as their iPhone-toting counterparts when it comes to apps. Android may offer a more open app publishing process – there are no review boards or wait times involved – but there are still rules. Certain apps are not allowed, especially if they violate copyright or a mobile operator’s need to generate revenue from value-added services, like tethering.
This should be an interesting project to keep an eye on.

Judge Rejects Oracle's Proposed Plan to Speed up Android Trial

A judge on Friday shot down Oracle's offer to put its Java patent-infringement claims against Google over the Android mobile OS on hold, in exchange for a speedier trial on its copyright claims.



Oracle sued Google in August 2010, claiming Android violated a number of Java copyrights and patents. Google has denied wrongdoing, saying Android uses a "clean-room" implementation of Java that doesn't infringe on Oracle's intellectual property.
Oracle proposed the alternative plan earlier this week, seemingly eager to get the long-simmering case to trial as soon as possible.
"The piecemeal approach suggested by Oracle as a trial alternative will not be adopted," Judge William Alsup said in the ruling filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. "The [court's schedule] simply does not permit that luxury. If Oracle wishes to voluntarily dismiss any damages claim, it will have to do so with prejudice; otherwise, a dismissal is nothing more than an invitation to piecemeal litigation."
One proposal within Oracle's alternative plan would have seen the company's patent claims dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could revive them at a later date. Under another proposed scenario, Alsup would "sever and stay" the patent claims for nine months.
The judge has previously ruled the trial would take place in up to three phases covering patent, copyright and damages issues, all heard by the same jury, and seems intent on preserving that plan.
Alsup has been assigned to a large-scale prosecution of alleged gang members, "which has resulted in four lengthy trials, including one underway now, without any relief from the remainder of his normal caseload," he wrote in Friday's ruling. "This has led to a backlog of trial-ready cases waiting their turn."
The judge recently said he won't set a trial date until Oracle submits an acceptable damages methodology. In his ruling Friday, Alsup granted Oracle's expert the go-ahead to make a third try.
If all goes well, the case could "could still possibly be tried starting mid-April," but if not, it will probably slip until the last four months of this year, Alsup wrote. "This order, however, gives no assurances as to when the case can be tried."
In a filing late Wednesday, Google offered a lukewarm response to Oracle's proposed alternative trial plan, referring to it only in passing. "With respect to Oracle's extensive discussion of potential alternative trial plans, those same issues were briefed by the parties and decided by the Court just last week, and the Court did not ask the parties for further comment on those issues," the filing stated.
Google has previously argued that the case should be stayed pending a number of ongoing patent reexaminations by U.S. patent authorities, saying that the outcome could streamline the issues in dispute.

Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich For HP Touchpad


The HP TouchPad tablet is expected to receive the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich following the efforts of an Android community development team.
Subsequent to the sales of the HP TouchPad at $99, the CyanogenMod team started developing an Android 2.3 Gingerbread custom ROM from the original webOS 3.0 operating system. The developer team has unveiled the latest CyanogenMod update which means that it will receive an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich treatment.
CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0 is ready to download and install via RootzWiki. The port, however, is incomplete and still in the development stage. At this point, video support is extremely limited, rendering anything other than low-resolution YouTube videos unplayable.
Also the camera and microphone are currently non-functional, and issues with the Android market keep the virtual DPI settings in the ROM artificially low. At the same time, the CyanogenMod team is diligently at work to sort them out.



LG Spectrum Android Smartphone Coming to Verizon


Verizon Wireless has added a new mid-tier Android offering to its lineup, the LG Spectrum. LG may take exception to such a descriptor, as it seems rather proud of the device's 4.5-inch "True HD IPS (in-plane switching) display" and HD content capabilities, but at $200 with a new two-year contract, compared to the $300 Verizon charges for the 32GB Droid RAZR and the Galaxy Nexus, mid-tier may suit many consumers just fine.     
Among the top-four brands, it was the only one to see shares dip year over year, though it shared this position with fellow Android supporter Sony Ericsson, which, with its 1.9 percent share fell, behind ZTE, Huawei and HTC.

The Spectrum's Gorilla Glass display features a 16:9 aspect ratio and 329 pixels per inch, which LG says makes for an exceptional viewing experience. Paired with "efficient display power consumption," LG suggests that doesn't necessarily translate to a zapped battery.
The Spectrum runs Android 2.3.5, known as Gingerbread, but it can be upgraded to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. There's a feature-packed 8-megapixel camera on the back—think: auto focus, face detection, exposure control, geo tagging, white-balancing, a self timer and more—and on the front, a 1.3-megapixel camera for video chatting. Also on board is a SmartMovie HD app, for creating and editing HD video on the phone.
Verizon executives made it known at the 2012 CES that every device issued from now on will be able to run on the carrier's 4G LTE network—now in 195 markets, covering 200 million folks—and the Spectrum indeed fits the bill.
The Spectrum also ships with a Netflix app, an ESPN ScoreCenter app and Dolby Digital Plus, enabling users to stream 7.1 channels of surround sound to their home entertainment systems. It measures 135.4 by 68.8 by 10.4 millimeters—put in relatable terms, the iPhone 4S measures 115.2 by 58.6 by 9.3 millimeters.
Finally, but not only, the Spectrum will respond to voice commands, such as voice dialing; includes a 1500MHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 processor, microUSB, microSD and microSDHC slots, with support for an up to 32GB card; and has Mobile Hotspot capabilities, allowing up to 10 WiFi-enabled devices to hop online.
Over at Android and Me, the early verdict from a quick tryout is that the Spectrum "feels incredibly solid in the hands" but that LG's user interface for Android is a little annoying—though that's coming from an Android purist critical of most user interfaces.
On sales of 21 million units, LG held just 4.8 percent of the worldwide mobile device market during the third quarter of 2011—having slipped from 6.6 percent and 27.5 million units a year earlier—which, Gartner reported, was enough to put it in the No. 3 spot behind Nokia and Samsung, respectively, and ahead of the No. 4 player, Apple, with its 3.9 percent share.
A shortage of parts due to late-2011 flooding in Thailand and unprecedented competition in the smartphone space has been the lament of many an Android-supporting manufacturer, Sony Ericsson most recently.

What Google's financials tell us about Android, Google+ and Motorola

With its first quarter of revenues over $10bn, there's plenty in Google's earnings details and executives' calls to pick over. Here's a selection
Larry Page
Larry Page's first full quarter as Google chief executive has gone well, with profits up 36% year-on-year. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What did we learn from Google's fourth quarter financial results, released on Thursday night? Quite a lot, though some is very well hidden. If you want, you can read the results, and also the transcript of the earnings call, and of analysts' questions at SeekingAlpha.
• Google passed $10bn for a quarter for a first time. In fact it was knocking on $11bn with its $10.854bn revenues. Profits were slightly lower than the previous quarter, however - $2.70bn against $2.73bn.
• Gmail now has 350m users.
• Google+ has 90m registered users - that is, people and organisations that have gone to the bother of creating a profile on it. That's more than doubled from the 40m announced at the last earnings call. There's some more about Google+, but we'll come to it presently.
• More than 250m Android devices have been activated. Larry Page, the chief executive, said so:
Android is, quite simply, mind-boggling. 700,000 phones are lit up every day. And I'm pleased to announce 250 million Android devices in total, up 50 million since our last announcement just in November. In just two days over the holiday weekend, 3.7 million Androids were activated. And today, we're announcing over 11 billion downloads from Android markets. Wow.
Of course 250m activations in total doesn't mean 250m necessarily in operation; that's a lifetime figure. Most won't be more than three years old though, so it's a good bet that many are still active. Adding 50m since 16 November (the figure was given out at the Google Music event) is a run rate of 50m in 65 days, or nearly 770,000. Unsurprisingly, Christmas has given Android a bounce. Even if you take out those two exceptional days around Christmas, it's still 734,000 per day in that period. But note that these won't be strictly hot-off-the-press numbers. They'll almost certainly have been prepared days earlier, and perhaps tweaked a little (if not by Page on his SEC-monitored phone calls, then at the Google Music event, upwards.)
• Page isn't really clear about how to monetise Android. Here's Benjamin Schachter of Macquarie Research with the question: "On Android, the numbers are obviously very, very strong. But can you talk about the monetization potential that's beyond search? What has to happen with Android for you to actually make money on this? And how are you going to do it?"
Page takes over:
"I think we are in a very -- as I mentioned in my remarks, we're in the early stages of monetization for a number of our new products, and Android is one of those. I think we do make money from Search on apps. We do make -- we mentioned that we have a very strong advertising business on mobile, which we obviously -- a lot of those people are on Android as well. And I think that you also see we announced 11 billion downloads on Android markets. Obviously, a lot of those are free, but we also are having a lot of people buy stuff there, too. We've seen a lot of potential for us to make money on Android, and I think you'll see us increase that a lot over time. It's hard to give you details about that right now, but I'm very, very optimistic."
Odd how in the previous quarter's earnings call he said that mobile was "at a $2.5bn run rate". (Then there were only 190m Android devices.) What's happened? Well, some analysis suggested then that a lot of that revenue - certainly a lot of search, as much as two-thirds - really came from Apple devices. Page didn't elaborate before or since. But monetising Android still seems like one of those "Any time soon, honest" problems.
• Motorola will be run as a separate business, if and when the takeover happens. Nor will it get special favours. Page again:
"on Motorola, obviously we're going to break that out [in the financial results] separately, so you'll be able to track the changes to margins and so on. I think that -- and able to track the business separately. So that should not be an issue. We've been very clear that Motorola's obviously going to remain a licensee of Android, and Android will remain open. And when we announced the deal, we really said our strategy is working with different manufacturers on lead devices is going to continue. And Motorola will bid with - just like any other OEM for those devices. So that process will be unchanged."
That's going to be interesting. Of course, Motorola is going to weigh down Google's profits: it warned earlier this month that it would miss expectations and show only "modest profitability". It's getting hammered in the Android fight.
• Google has been paying Apple and Mozilla (and various others) more than $440m per quarter to be the default search engine on their browsers, including desktop and browser. We learn this from the Traffic Acquisition Costs information. Known as TAC, these are the money that search engines pay to be the default on a browser or system: every time someone uses the Google search box on the iPhone or on Firefox, there's a reward in it for Apple or Mozilla. In the words of the release, "TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totalled $442 million in the fourth quarter of 2011."
Expect that figure to rise next quarter, because Mozilla renegotiated the deal, and is likely getting rather more. One to keep an eye on.
• Now, those Google+ users. 90m, remember? Here's what Page then said, after announcing that 90m figure: "Engagement on + is also growing tremendously. I have some amazing data to share there for the first time. + users are very engaged with our products. Over 60% of them engage daily and over 80% weekly."
What this doesn't mean is that 60% of people with Google+ profiles useGoogle+ every day, and 80% in a week. Not at all. It's saying that among people who have created a Google+ profile (a group that includes me), 60% use some Google product - which could be search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Docs or any other its dozens of things - while they are signed in using the same email that they have for their Google+ profile.
When you put it like that, it's surprising that more of them aren't signed in all the time - if you're using your own machine, for example, then the cookie on your browser will usually keep you logged in until you specifically log out. One also begins wondering how Google knows this detail: if you aren't signed in, how does it know you have a Google+ profile?
Even so, only 60% of Google+ users being signed in to use a Google desktop product each day, and 1 in 5 not signing in through a week, doesn't sound like a terrifically engaged audience to me. However, Google is very determined that - as one Googler put it to me - Google+ should be the "glue" that links all its products together. So far, a bit of a questionmark on the stickiness. And you'll note that Page said nothing about time spent on Google+.
• Advertising is pretty much Google's only business. Revenues from non-advertising business this quarter (ie from Google Docs to business): $410m, up from $273m a year ago. That's a 50% growth, but it's still less than 4% of revenues. Compare Microsoft's Business division, which had quarterly revenues of $6.3bn and profits of $4bn.
Then again, Microsoft's search division had revenues of $784m, and lost $458m. So the two companies are like each others' obverse.
In the end, then, Google's drive is always going to be to drive any business it's involved in towards something that's free to access online, and advertising-supported - because then it can weigh in with its reach advantage and drive out anyone else trying to serve ads, because its auction model for text ads is more efficient as long as it remains the largest search engine. Quite how Motorola Mobility is going to survive in that environment we'll have to see. Having been an independent company for a year, it hasn't set the world alight - apart from chief executive Sanjay Jha's very clever manoeuvring to make sure Google paid top whack for the company (or more specifically, its patents).
With rival Android maker Sony Ericsson looking ill too, it might be a question of which of the weakest two falls first. Will Google be more determined to keep its Android handset maker open, or will Sony? They both have a lot riding on it - though Sony might have slightly more reason to persist. Google, after all, just wants Motorola Mobility's patents. The handsets are an afterthought. And once that's done, Page can focus on monetising Android.