Working out your differences.

Well well well, that cute little robot has dollar signs in his eyes. For the first time in its history Android ad revenue exceeded iOS. Am I surprised? No, not really, Androids multi manufacturer, multi price point system gives them an natural advantage in this space over their Cupertino based rivals.

Part of Apples charm is that it is a 'premium' brand and as such charges a premium price. Fine, this is a system that has worked, and continues to work very very well for them. Desire-ability is their stock and trade and no one does it better. $4.31 billion profit. Enough said.

I always think about Google and Apple as direct rivals, but this weeks announcement has made me reconsider, as in fact the two do not compete directly across the board. Apple has always made its own hardware and married it with its own software, this is true for every single product its released in the last decade. It means incompatibility errors are less likely to occur and given their premium status, they can make a profit on each piece of hardware sold. Microsoft have hardly made a penny from hardware, and neither have Google (apart from the Nexus One, which a) did not sell very well and b) was made by HTC).

Google, is a software company, through and through - which allows it to work as many with established manufactures as it can do deals with. Thus, a glut of Android devices, ranging in price. Apples approach, on the one hand allows it to garner profits from both revenue streams, but on the flipside means that it will lose some ground to Google in advertising revenue as Android devices proliferate.

Both companies are very successful, but in some areas their success is mutually exclusive, and does not hinge on the others failure. If nothing else, with smartphone sales skyrocketing this town is very much big enough for the two of 'em.