Have you ever wondered why buying paid apps on the Android Market took so long to make it to Ireland?
I’ve found an interesting perspective from Kyle Baxter on why Google are really in the smartphone OS business. I tried to extract the gist below, the full article is still worth a read as it has an impact on any Irish Software company developing for mobile devices. Note that this is not meant as an argument against Google or Android – but understanding the bigger picture can help people to ride the wave rather than fighting it 
What’s your opinion? – Leave a comment below.
“In essence, Since Google’s business is advertising, shifting industries away from paying business models is in their interest. If people are willing to pay for email, mapping and documents, Google’s business model is limited. Thus, using the outsized revenues they make from advertising on search, Google gives away Gmail, Maps, Docs, navigation, translation, et cetera, so no one can compete in those areas—to make free the norm for these services. If Google is giving away a quite good service, it’s hard to compete with them in that area, and so the economics of that business shift away from paid services to advertising-supported. And if a business becomes dependent on advertising for revenue, that’s good for Google, because they’re better at it than everyone else.
