Google is a public company, with fiduciary duty to its shareholders. It is at least somewhat about the money. If Google can't make Android a profit center, there's nothing stopping Android from being relegated to FeedBurner status or going the way of Wave and Etherpad. I'm in no way whatsoever trying to pass judgement on the wrong or rightness of that, but I don't think it's arguable that Google must find a way to make Android a profitable endeavor for it to see continued active development and promotion.
The Android vs. iOS US/UK growth numbers lately have not been kind to Android and Android's greater number of devices still represent a lower amount of web traffic in North America (and on the decline lately). It's a very premature assumption to claim that Android will be lucrative enough in developed demographics to fund overall development. As long as Google is actually losing money on every Android device sold (due to the patent licensing), simply focusing on the number of devices sold is a very poor metric for the platform's long term success.
You realize that Asymco post is just speculation and the chart is based on that speculation, right? Those individual bars aren't based on any directly related facts or financials. He's very clear about that.
Considering Android's larger user base, measured usage numbers like those have almost all been abysmal. iOS even accounts for ~10% more web traffic than Android in North America and that gap has been widening lately. That's a serious problem that you shouldn't hand-wave away if you truly care about the future of Android.
Personally, I don't have a horse in this race. I think iOS, Android, and WP8 all have strengths. You seem to be angry at me for pointing out the flaws in focusing on raw Android activation numbers (many of which don't even have a data plan!). I don't understand why. It's not my fault that back-loading the profit is not viable for large swaths of the global mobile market, but I don't think that's a very controversial statement.
The Android vs. iOS US/UK growth numbers lately have not been kind to Android and Android's greater number of devices still represent a lower amount of web traffic in North America (and on the decline lately). It's a very premature assumption to claim that Android will be lucrative enough in developed demographics to fund overall development. As long as Google is actually losing money on every Android device sold (due to the patent licensing), simply focusing on the number of devices sold is a very poor metric for the platform's long term success.