If Android is the key to creating a connected universe of Google, Inc. (GOOGL 0.55%) (GOOG 0.74%) products and services -- and thereby, the key to its growth strategy -- then a new course could end up a boon for Google stock. Fool contributor Tim Beyers explains how in the following video.
Specifically, Google is teaming with Udacity to offer a free course for developers called Android Fundamentals. The idea, as this video calls it, is to "teach your brain to think like a mobile developer" by taking participants through the process of creating a new app.
The partnership comes at an interesting time. In June, at the annual I/O developer conference, Google announced new uses for Android, including Android Wear for watches and other smart accessories, Android TV for powering smart televisions and set-top boxes, and Android Auto for smarter in-car systems, including support for voice commands. Each of these mini-platforms needs developer support.
Yet, the need is also bigger than what Google showed off at I/O. Too often, developers refashion apps first created in iOS; but what Google really needs, is more from-the-ground-up Android software. Instagram was like that. And just recently, LinkedIn (LNKD.DL) introduced its new "LinkedIn Connected" app to iOS with no announced plans to port to Android. That LinkedIn isn't willing to give its 300 million-plus members an Android app at the same time as it releases to iOS is disturbing... and telling.
Native Android apps are key -- especially free, advertising-supporting apps. In its second-quarter report, Google reported another 6% decline in cost-per-click as lower-cost mobile ads took a toll, yet again. The good news? Paid click volume increased 25%.
Google's strategy necessitates getting more Android software into the devices governing our lives, and that requires a growing developer community. The Udacity deal should help, but it's also a first step among many that Google stock owners should expect to see during the next several years.
