Google Inc Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt predicted on April 16 that there will be more than a billion smartphones in use featuring its Android software within the next six to nine months. Schmidt also noted that Google had no intention of blocking access to a new app from Facebook Inc, saying he was "phenomenally happy" with the app from Google's rival, which replaces the homescreen on Android phones.
The new Facebook Home app was released on Friday and gives the social networking service prominent placement on Android phones. Removing Facebook Home from Google's app store would be counter to Google's "public statements, our policies, our religion," Schmidt said at a conference in New York on Tuesday organised by the technology blog AllThingsD.
Because the Android software is open source, companies are free to tinker with it and customise it to their needs. Facebook's Home app prominently displays Facebook's newsfeed and messages on the homescreen, stealing the spotlight from Google's own services such as Web search and maps.
The five-year old Android software has been a huge hit for Google, giving the Internet search company a strong footing with consumers who increasingly access the Web from mobile phones rather than from PCs. Android is now the world's No 1 mobile phone software, with more than 750 million mobile devices featuring Android in use across the world.
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