If Android is the key to creating a connected universe of Google, Inc. (GOOGL +1.71%)(GOOG +2.00%) 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 +0.00%) 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.
