Google's fourth quarter financial report just came out and things are looking fairly rosy for the tech titan. Without going into the dry details of every nook and cranny of their report, the highlight was that Google's non-advertising business saw a 99 percent increase from last year at this time. Specifically, “Other Google Revenues” popped from $829 million in the Q4 of 2012, to $1.65 billion in Q4 of 2013. This includes all of Google's newest and most unusual business ventures, like the Nexus line, the Chromecast and the Google Play Store. While these smaller "side-businesses" were only 10% of Google's total revenue, the company indicated it was pleased with the results thus far. Here's a quote with some additional detail,
During the investors call following the announcement, Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora briefly touched on the performance of Google’s hardware products, commenting that the Chromecast and Nexus 5 did well over the holidays. The exec said there was “strong interest in Nexus hardware” and that the Nexus 5 (launched on October 31) had a “great reception”.
Arora also praised the performance of the Play Store, and noted that more users signed up for Wallet, the company’s payments system, as a result of increased interest in downloading apps and media from Google’s digital store.
It's worth noting that Motorola was not considered part of Google's "Other Revenue" category, but it did very poorly posting losses of $384 million in the quarter. The upcoming sale of the handset maker to Lenovo won't have a fiscal effect until later on. One particular thing of note is that Google specifically praised the Nexus line in this earnings report. This could be an indirect hint that previous rumors suggesting Google will kill off the Nexus line next year are false.
Source: AndroidAuthority