Re: "It's been quite clear for some time that funding development"
@LDS,
Google could have charged for its mobile OS to fund its development - but the plan was to give it away for free (more or less) to spread it as much as possible, so it would have greatly sustained the ads business - and the plan worked, especially outside US where Apple expensive phones have less market share.
Free? More or less? Don't you remember that just a few weeks ago the EU fined Google because Android is far from free? Using it relies on proprietary blobs that come with conditions attached, illegal conditions as it turns out.
Google's business model is sunk, at least in Europe, it's just a matter of when the regulators tear them apart, not if.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
