In answering the federal regulators' questions last year, Google merely stated the obvious — 'mobile' doesn't fit the new categories of device of the future Can't say I didn't see this coming. Late last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission — one of the bodies that helps make sure businesses play fair — had some questions for Google regarding its year-end 2012 fiscal report, which was filed in January 2013. Some of those questions regarded Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility. Some had to do with taxes. Some with Motorola's Home business. Other questions had to do with the difference between the "cost per click" for advertising on desktop versus mobile. It's Google's answers to that last section that got the headlines, of course. It's blogger gold. "ZOMG Google to put ads on thermostats and refrigerators and your newborn baby's forehead." Get an iPhone SE with Mint Mobile service for $30/mo Only, that's not really what Google said.

I think we gave you the basic facts in our story, assuming folks would click through and read the SEC notes for themselves. But we know better. So let's take a look point by point. Here's the question the SEC asked Google (emphasis mine): Your response to prior comment 1 suggests that platform price differentials remain between desktop and mobile. We also note that advertisers are diverting their advertising campaigns from desktop to mobile and tablets. Please quantify the impact of the various factors identified in your discussion of changes in revenue that caused the six percent decline in average-cost-per click paid by advertisers. If the decline is primarily attributable to mobile advertising, explain why quantification of mobile activity would not be meaningful. Further, tell us whether the increase in the number of paid clicks was the same across each platform. Tell us whether the number of paid clicks for desktops and tablets increased at the same rate as the mobile platform. Tell us what consideration you gave to providing the percentage change by platform. The blurred line between tablets and phones Basically, the SEC wants to know why there's such a difference in CPC (that's cost per click, remember) between desktop and mobile. Google's response started with why its year-end numbers were what they were. But the juicy part for everyone comes toward the middle, when Google starts talking about how it's actually getting tougher to say exactly what a "mobile" platform is. Google started with: We would also like to highlight the significant difficulties we see with the practice of breaking out CPCs and paid clicks — or any performance metric — by device platform. It is increasingly challenging to define what exactly a "mobile" platform is from period to period — and what it will be going forward. That is to say that simply having two categories — desktop and mobile — doesn't take into account future categories of devices, nor does it accurately reflect how we use our current devices today. Simple enough. Google went on to explain that "most industry observers would have included tablets (in addition to handsets) in their definition of mobile." I'm inclined to agree — we pretty much do that here as well. And Google notes that it'd been treating phones and tablets as members of the same category for a while as well, including in third-quarter revenue numbers for 2011 and 2012. But we don't use tablets like we do phones, right? However, as tablets gained momentum in the market, it became clear to us that their usage had much more in common with desktops than with handsets. As more people starting buying tablets, Google noticed that they were being used more like desktop (or laptop) computers than phones. And that makes sense. You probably don't keep a tablet in your pocket. You're not pulling it out every 2 minutes to take a peek. It's more of an appliance that you use for a little bit, and then leave it be. 'Mobile' isn't a future-proof category