Google's Schmidt boasts 200K Android devices sold daily, waxes intellectual on society and technology
By Ross Miller 
posted August 5th 2010 12:41AM
posted August 5th 2010 12:41AM
Speaking of Techonomy, Schmidt used some of his on-stage time to discuss the new concerns technology has engendered. "The technology of course is neutral but society is not fundamentally ready," he said, claiming AI today could very likely use location-based services and predict where a person was going next, among other nightmares for privacy advocates. Schmidt opines that it's up to the society on how the collected information is regulated while computers do what they do best -- gather and recall information. We like think adorable kitten pictures falls nicely into that latter category, and that's all we care about anyway.
"The technology of course is neutral but society is not fundamentally ready," he said, claiming AI today could very likely use location-based services and predict where a person was going next
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actually eric, while the software would be capable of this, battery technology isn't ready to have your phone checking gps at all times, not to mention having the processor prognosticating the user's actions all the time
@mrqs Depending on circumstances, you wouldn't need to track. Yes, for variable work schedules and weekends, along with non-professionals you are correct. However, for people who commute to work, leaving between 8:05-8:15 every morning (just an example), they'd be able to alert them via text message that there is a major accident and they should alter their path to work. For people who are always going out to lunch on a Saturday, they could send a text message to them offering a coupon for BOGO ice cream. The point is, that they'd use the information they get, when they can get it, not just be constantly pinging phones or anything. In the short-term, the information is already consuming the consumers' batteries, so this wouldn't add to it (like my tracks for instance), then the way Google stores the information the phone wouldn't have to do "work" in order to prognosticate, this could happen all on the servers - offline in relation to the phone.
"We're fairly confident there's a team of top mathematicians, statisticians, and engineers in Mountain View right now tasked with finding new and innovative ways to boast about Android's success."
Does Engadget hate Android?
@Steven until they get the correct amount of payola that topples what apple provides...yes.
I'd like to know if this includes crapgadgets made by companies like Eken, Pandigital, etc.
I'm sure it's just tracking how many devices connect up to Google for initial activation, no matter what they're installed on.
The big question is if you put an android emulator on your PC, does that count?
@Kerensky97
DEVICE ACTIVATIONS...... explain such a process when running on an emulator...
thats all well and good. but the phone people want under sprint... they still can't get it. radio shacks for example only get like 3 or 4 units every 2 weeks. thats just said.
HTC needs to ramp up production big time. apparently people dont care about battery life or the extra 10 bux sprint charges for 4g.
@deedeedee
Take an English class, please.
@Raytem All phones do not suffer from the same problem. I am still... still trying to make my Android Pulse's signal die. I can't no matter how I hold it. Kudos to Apple if they'd said, we had a problem and we are going to fix it, but pointing to non-existent problems with other phones instead of fixing your own is just plain wrong.
@darkly
and that is why apple took that site down. It was enough to fool the iSheep so the site was a success.
@4u2nv
The droid-T@ards and iHaters still don't realize this fact about the antenna issue:
- 0.5% of iPhone 4 users complained
-100% of iHaters and droid-T@rds complained
If no one is really complaining, is there really an issue? Nop! :-)
@HighestRanked1
0.5% is still 5000 people complained for every million iPhones sold. IMO still significant for a device that implies (thru it´s name) that it´s mean to able to used as phone.
@HighestRanked1 And yet, Apple fanboys jump on the bandwagon to complain about issues on android devices they have never touched. Double standards much?
Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability
@Bozster
yes! +1 i read that in agent smith's voice.
i want to watch the matrix now. thanks!
@Bozster Exactly, an OS/software utilized by multiple manufacturers/companies will almost always eventually outpace and out grow a proprietary system. I hope to see Android as the Windows of the mobile world. Sure iOS will have a loyal following, just like how OSX has a loyal following in Mac land. But if Android keeps picking up more and more manufacturers with multiple models per carrier it will eventually leave Apple and iOS in the dust in the mobile market.
I thought the biggest breakthrough of tha last century was inventing the mobile phone. I state corrected. It was inventing Google!
@tommalota
Not google, the Internet. Different things you know.
Th
There is ABSOLUTELY NOW WAY they are activating 200,000 NEW customers every day! The most anticipated Android device of the year, the EVO, didn't even sell that many on it's launch WEEKEND! And how many of those were upgrades vs NEW customers? If these were the numbers for WORLDWIDE NEW customers, maybe it would be true. No way this reflects NEW activations, not upgrades, in the US. NO WAY!
@kruger4gamecocks
But why does that matter? This new data pretty much shows that Android is picking up more new users than iPhone; basing that on 75% of iphone 4 purchases as upgrades.
It's simply not plausible to believe that Android users change phones every month or 2. I change my phone every 6 months and that's already considered extreme by any market standards. There's simply no way android users are upgrading each an every iteration; which is like every few weeks there's a newer and better model out.
They're picking up a massive new user base. I don't use android and even I can see that. It's pretty clear.
@ounkeo
HAHAHA!!!! I'm really curious to know if they are smoking crack... EVEN gadget freaks dont buy a new DROID even month... are you kidding? They may have 2-4 phones on hand, but of diff gens (g1, Hero, Nexus, EVO, for example, but thats still pushing it.) Unless your a blogger that gets review devices, or getting access to free ones or giveaways, no one is getting Each and every new Droid... People like Android, face the facts.
There are contracts that go up everyday, and people are looking to get newer phones. Some wait months or years to use the upgrade because they are undecided about staying on the carrier or jumping ship (for reasons of plans, devices, customer service). There are webOS fans, WinMo fans, iOS fans, and Droid fans.... the droid base is just exponentially getting bigger and bigger than the rest, and with the customizations and openness... Can you blame then!? With boatloads of surprises in Gingerbread, there's no tellin how that will boost these numbers through 2011 and beyond....
Look at you people fighting over cellphone operating systems. Any sensible person would rather that iOS and Android continue to co-exist, because, frankly, without iOS, you wouldn't have Android in its current form, and without Android, you wouldn't have so much functionality in iOS. The fact that some of you here would just love to see Apple disappear just shows how ignorant some of the people on this site really are.
@mKTank
exactly. competition drives innovation.
@mKTank True, but if Android's success can knock a smug bastard in a black turtle neck down a peg or two I'll still be happy.
First of all I wouldn't trust these numbers AT ALL... funny how Android crowds seem to overexadurate figures...
Anyway I'm sure Android eventually will be bigger than IOS, and this offcourse will be because of the hundreds of cheap shitty phones which get this OS. It does NOT mean that Android is IOS superior in any way what so ever.
BUT don't worry fandroiders... you'll get the largest platform and once again have to deal with malware, spyware, shitty programming and anarchy... but atleast your "open source" and get to dl Warez and obscure porn no-limits. Congrats
You would think that if the phones were cheap and shitty that it must be a really amazing OS that gets people to buy it anyway.
But I think the main thing is that people wouldn't buy it if there wasn't some usefulness of the device. I know Mercedes makes superior cars to Toyota but I also think they're overpriced for what you get. I'd say Toyota is a better car because cost is a feature, the value of what you get is better than a Mercedes.
People aren't forced to buy a certain phone, regardless which OS is better the proof is in the numbers; people vote with their wallets and they're voting for Android NOT iOS.
Schmidt has repeatedly told us why the operating sytem is irrelevant now thanks to HTML5 and javascript. So is he playing double speak by creating its own little OS garden? This native OS app model is a step to the past. The OS should be irrelevant be android, WP7, webos, IOS etc. OS independant web apps are the future. Besides how long before the justice dept steps in and forces google to unbundle all the google-ware from their OS just like it happened to the prior monopoly (MS)?
If you're for open, you're for the web. I very much don't care to replace one single incompatible OS with another from another monopolistic company.
@LSE
Wow. Intelligent comment on Engadget. Nicely done.
@ok1 Google shitty programming you do realise that those same company's you moan about will be doing the same phones for wp7 the htc evo is just htc hd2 do you actually think before you type or is your brain fucked from the drugs you take to make using windows mobile more desirable
All lefties rejoice the cute green robot doesn't discriminate.
@deedeedee Really? I bought my Nexus One unsubsidized, as did anyone who got the att model...besides, most high-end android devices have the same out-of-pocket AND monthly bill as an iphone, so what you say is sheer fanboyism. iphones and androids appeal to different people for different reasons. Accept it and move on.
@deedeedee And, regarding your desktop os comment, I also built a custom tower that smokes pretty much anything Apple has available. Your car analogy is an utter failure...You realize macs are a BSD kernel, yes?
Andriod is a heap of shit. Its clunky and ugly, not at all useable. Of course they are selling them because all the cheap shitty phones are being loaded with andriod, like the HTC tattoo...
wow thats great!!!
Considering that the OS is on more than one carrier which means your not forced to go to only one carrier who has the OS(apple and at&t) and that a new android phone comes out it seems like every few weeks which makes your "latest" android device seem old which then makes some run out and purchase the "latest" to stay up to date with android. so the numbers of 200,000 seems about right. I love android but the constant changes gets on my nerves cause you an just get the most recent phone and then a few weeks later something else comes out that does x,y and z and you think like damn i just got this one.
200,000? Thats like 3 every second! Its 1 for every kid in africa who dies of hunger :(
@Matt314
Hmmmm... so if the corporations raise the price on each Android phone with, let´s say, $5,- and donate this money to the African children they could eradicate that problem.
@rj7855 You'd think so but then the prices would be higher then iphones and ppl would buy those. And we all know Steve Jobs doesn't donate shit. Because that would require him to actually give money to others while Apple's business model is to squeeze as much money out of ppl. Clearly not compatible.
I'm surprised this site mentions this fact, I mean they like to think that the iPhone 4 owns 90% of the market.
@BerkleyBerkley2011
Fact? Or .. Um NPD Survey.. Check again genius.
Does the pic for this article remind anyone else of Yahtzee's imps?
And for all those who think Google doesn't know how to make money compared to Apple, what's the default search engine on the iPhone? Default streaming video player? Default map app? Google is raking in the dough off every iPhone too...
@ACEACEACE bing ?
@phearme
No, that was just recently.... Think back from the first iPhone. Google has had its foot in that OS since Day1, and people still could use it now that they've switched to Bing....
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
Allthough bokia just claimed there OS sells more per day
I
Android world domination ftw!
Android ftw!