Two years ago, Android made 40 times more from ads than app sales

Google Nexus S
Android ads made $158.9 million in 2010

The Google v Oracle trial has exposed plenty of hidden facts about the inner workings of Google, not least of which was today's Blackberry-esque mockup of a 2006 prototype Google Phone.

But today also revealed equally juicy revenue figures for the fiscal fans. Today in court brought details on the drastic gap in Android's app and ad revenue. Android's 2010 revenue forecast revealed $158.9 million (about £98,136,640) from ads and a mere fortieth of that, $3.8 million (£1852800), from apps.

The large rift was expectable, but this is the first chance we've had to see the actual numbers. Google gives developers 70% of an app's purchase price, and carriers and payment processors get 25%. Google only keeps 5%.

The 2010 landscape

Apple's app revenue during the same time period was $1,782 million (£1,100,563,200). But Google had just barely secured second place in 2010 and the landscape was entirely different, so of course the numbers are sure to be wildly different today.

Also of note from today's slides is the little tidbit in which Google predicted Google Music would produce $738 million (£455,788,800) in revenue in 2011, and $148.9 million (£91,960,640)in revenue in 2012, and over $2 billion (£1,235,200,000) in 2013. We're going to go ahead and guess those numbers have been revised, as Google Music seems to be losing members.

We'll keep you updated with any and all new information that surfaces from the Oracle and Google trial.

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Online Editor

Nic is a former Online Editor at TechRadar in San Francisco. He started as a games journalist before becoming an editor at Mac|Life magazine. He holds a degree in English Literature and English Writing from Whitworth University.

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