Google has added four new countries to the list from which Android developers can sell their products. Developers from the following countries can now sell their applications and in-app products on Google Play, using their local bank accounts for payments:
Along with Google’s Q1 earnings reports, Google announced their plans to create a new class of non-voting stock which will be distributed via a stock dividend to all existing stockholders — essentially creating a 2-for-1 stock split. Existing stockholders will receive one new share of non-voting stock for every share they own, doubling their overall share without affecting voting power. This new non-voting stock will be available for corporate uses, like equity-based employee compensation, and will ensure Google’s founders retain control over Google’s destiny.
Google has released its Q1 2012 revenue earnings — and business is good! Revenue for Q1 2012 came in at $10.65 billion, up 24% from Q1 2011. Overall, the majority of revenue avenues saw growth despite Google’s willingness to explore risky projects. Google ended up with a hefty $49.3 billion cash on hand and looks to continue growing that stockpile as they move forward in the year. In the earnings call today, Larry Page talked mostly about their dedication to the long-term and points out how many of their projects don’t reach critical mass for quite a few years. For example, Larry points out that he’s been working on Android for 6 years and it wasn’t until the past 3 years that Android has begun to really explode.
Google’s beautiful magazine-esque news reader has received its first major update today. The update takes care of a slew of issues but most importantly, it takes care of the painfully slow syncing. Users will now have instant online sync as well as sync speeds 7x faster than the previous version. Other improvements to the app include:
Ah, the wondrous findings of random polls. This one appears to favor my personal favorite company and therefore I won’t argue against it. The rest of you are free to sound off in the comments after reading the favorable findings of this ABC News/Washington Post poll. A random national sample of 1,007 adults were asked whether or not they had a favorable or unfavorable impression of the following four tech companies: Google, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter.
