Back in September of last year, Google chairman Eric Schmidt told us that Android had reached 1.3 million daily activations every day. Today, he tells us that number is up to 1.5 million, which is actually not that staggering of an increase. Andy Rubin said the number was 900,000 per day in June of 2012, so the increase from there to September was much, much faster than the increase from September to now. Still, it's an impressive number on its own. Oh and the total number of devices activated will cross one billion in "six to nine months." Not bad.

And what's the secret to all that success? Well, according to Schmidt, it's the platform's openness. A policy (and a "religion," it seems) that allows things like Facebook Home. While half of the tech world is nailing the app to the wall for being underwhelming (the half that leaves Play Store reviews, apparently), the other half insists that Google will not be happy about the customizations because it's a threat to the company's control of the OS. Well, according to Schmidt, not only is that far from the truth, but the idea is laughable bordering on insulting.

Schmidt was asked what Google had to say about speculation by Microsoft's Windows Phone head Terry Myerson that Google might pull Facebook Home from the Play Store if it became too much of a threat to Android. Schmidt's response was that Microsoft doesn't make Google policy and that Facebook Home is exactly the kind of thing that Android was designed for:

"This is what open source is all about...You can't have half open source. It's against our religion."

Barring the obvious jokes about that period between the releases of Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich, this is not a shocking idea. In fact, despite what the tech pundits think, Google has embraced the ability of other companies to change what Android is from the very beginning. So, the idea that Schmidt thinks it's cool for Facebook to create this kind of launcher should come as no surprise.

There were other small nuggets of info to come out today, as well. Andy Rubin at an entirely different conference let on that Android was originally intended for use on cameras. Eric Schmidt also said that while he's excited about Google Glass, he was not willing to wear it on his trip to North Korea because, "I didn't want to freak them out. They have lots of guns." Oh and there was something about Motorola phones being more gooder.

Source: All Things D