Google Executive: Android Device Activations Exceeding 500,000 Per Day

In the fight against the iPhone it appears Google’s Android platform may be catching up. That’s according to Google’s Vice President of Engineering, Andy Rubin (@Arubin), who earlier today tweeted that activations of Google Android handsets had surpassed 500,000 per day. Compare that to the over 300,000 devices per day the company was activating back in December 2010, and you start to build a picture of just how rapid this growth is.

In October, Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, revealed in a surprise appearance in the firm’s quarterly earnings call that the company was activating roughly 275,000 iOS-based devices per day, with device activations reaching 300,000 units on some days. Google revealed at the time that it was activating just 200,000.

But while Android devices are now thought to be outselling iOS devices, it is important to note that Apple’s profit share of the mobile industry has completely eclipsed that of its competition. In fact, one analyst predicted that, right about now, Apple has a large enough cash pile due to sale of devices such as the iPhone and iPad, to facilitate it buying the entire mobile industry, barring Samsung.

Of course, it probably would never be allowed to do that – competition laws and all – but that’s not the point.