Google’s $8 Billion Mobile Business Comes With Caveats

The first news nugget from Google’s earnings call today: The company says it’s now on pace to generate $8 billion a year from mobile, up from $2.5 billion a year ago.

Big jump! But there’s a catch: Last year’s number was solely from mobile advertising. This year’s number includes mobile ads along with gross revenue from media sold through the company’s Google Play store, as well as the gross revenue from app sales.

So: Big number, but unless Google wants to break it down, hard to tell how meaningful it is.

(Update: Later in the call, CFO Patrick Pichette tells analysts the “vast majority” of that $8 billion comes from ads.)