Google is not terribly open with their finances, particularly when it comes to all things mobile. However, we do know they spent a meager $50 million to acquire Android. How much it cost to transform Android into a iPhone clone rather than a Blackberry clone we cannot say.

Google also spent a whopping $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility. We know that additional charges for “right sizing” Motorola will add at least several hundred million dollars to the cost side of their books.

How much have they spent developing Android, building Google Play and licensing content creating apps and services for Android, managing the “Open Handset Alliance”, marketing Android (and Nexus) and sharing revenues with carriers around the world? Nobody outside Google knows and Google won’t say. Costs are not broken out.

Nor is Google open about Android-related revenues. We do know they are meager. Whatever your view of Android the operating system or of various Android handsets, it is safe to assume that Android has a net cost of about $15 billion (with a b) to Google. There are very few companies in the world that could swallow a $15 billion cost on the hopes of future gains. Kudos to Google for their high-margin, high-profit near-monopoly search business that allows them to take such a massive gamble. Given the potential of mobile search and local-mobile advertising, it is at least theoretically possible that Google can make back its money.

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Read also:

A Samsung Nexus 10 won't solve Google's tablet problem (SlashGear)

Google nudges developers to build Android-optimized apps (CNET)

5 Ways Android's 'Jellybean' Can Make You More Efficient (Entrepreneur)

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