Android alone accounted for $31b revenue in 2016, according to Oracle, of which $22b was purportedly profit just for 2016. Excluding Android's contribution to their advertising ecosystem, which is another chunk of that $136 billion you mention. That's far more than 10% of their gross profit, but even if it was less why would that absolve Google of responsibility? The % doesn't create the customer the transactions do.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-21/google-s-...

Wait. I'm reading that differently.

I read it as saying $31 billion in revenue since Android was released, not in 2016 alone. That was more than 10 years ago.

And of that $31 billion, $22 billion is profit.

Finally, a lot of that revenue came from payments made to Google by handset operators, not app developer fees.

It's probably wrong, just something internal Oracle leaked on a topic without much transparency. But even if all Google ever made was the $25 one-time fee all Play Store developers have paid they meet the criteria to be customers.

It's got to be about 2 decades since only advertisers gave Google money in exchange for goods and services, since then there are dozens of ways to be their customer.

> Play Store developers have paid they meet the criteria to be customers.

totally agree. Google has a lot of customers and it seems like a lot of them receive mediocre or poor service, especially app developers.

then again, i've seen other HN posts state that corporate customers also receive mediocre service from Google.