Google's Page on Facebook Home, Glass, and future of Android
Google's chief executive officer Larry Page has made few apperances on the Internet giant's quarterly earnings calls since falling ill ahead of Google I/O last June.
See also: Google's Q1: $11.01B in adjusted revenue, $11.58 earnings per share
But the company's co-founder steered the reins throughout much of Thursday's event after the bell.
While Page repeatedly said he wasn't looking to offer "news" about a number of buzzed-about products, his commentary covered a diverse cross-section of Google units.
Here's an overview:
Google Glass strategy for functionality, price, and third-party developer ecosystem:
"It's in the early days for the product. Just handing over small number so far. I think that we're probably pretty good at third-party ecosystems based on experience on Android. So I’m not too worried about that... I think the price tag was set for developers for our early test. We don’t have any news to announce there. I’m not sure i’d call it a luxury price, but it’s a pretty high price... What do people do with Glass? I find the photo taking, the video, phone calling, quick messaging, directions, would all be a pretty amazing experience. That’s some of the core functionality we built in the device...We’re excited to get this out to developers and have others create experiences we haven’t thought of yet."
People using apps versus Google search on mobile:
"We always get this question about apps versus Google search. I’m not super concerned about that issue. People use apps on the Web. There are many strong sites and so on. So we’ve been dealing with that issue for a long time. Fundamentally, search is an amazing thing. We go over a lot of traffic and users. In general, the information wants to be found. We’re working hard to make sure the user experience is great and we’re delivering people to the right places."
Following Andy Rubin’s resignation as leader of the unit, Page described that Google has very "ambitious" goals for Android.
But he quickly noted that there wouldn't be any details about those goals revealed on Thursday.
"He really decided it was time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google," Page added about Rubin.
Thoughts on impact of Facebook Home for Android:
"I think that Google is really focused on building and creating great Android experiences within the strong ecosystem that we have. And it's really great to see developers really focused on and building for Android...I'm certainly, as I mentioned, I think it's going pretty smoothly, I'm pretty excited about it."
Debate about Android fragmentation:
Describing that he has had the "pleasure of using different Android phones from a variety of manufacturers," he admitted the experiences vary.
"In the negative sense, that’s fragmentation," Page admitted, following up that in a positive sense, it’s innovation.