Android (operating system)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Android is an
operating system based on the
Linux kernel, and designed primarily for
touchscreen mobile devices such as
smartphones and
tablet computers. Initially developed by Android, Inc., which
Google backed financially and later bought in 2005,
[12] Android was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the
Open Handset Alliance—a consortium of
hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing
open standards for mobile devices.
[13] The first publicly available smartphone running Android, the
HTC Dream, was released on October 22, 2008.
[14]
The
user interface of Android is based on
direct manipulation,
using touch inputs that loosely correspond to real-world actions, like
swiping, tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching to manipulate on-screen
objects. Internal hardware—such as
accelerometers,
gyroscopes, and
proximity sensors—
is used by some applications to respond to additional user actions, for
example adjusting the screen from portrait to landscape depending on
how the device is oriented. Android allows users to customize their home
screens with shortcuts to applications and
widgets,
which allow users to display live content, such as emails and weather
information, directly on the home screen. Applications can further send
notifications to the user to inform them of relevant information, such
as new emails and text messages. Despite being primarily designed for
phones and tablets, it also has been used in televisions,
games consoles,
digital cameras, and other electronics.
Android is the most popular
mobile OS and as of 2013, its devices also sell more than Windows, iOS and Mac OS devices combined.
[15][16][17] In the third quarter of 2013, Android's share of the global smartphone shipment market was 81.3%, the highest ever.
[18] As of July 2013 the
Google Play store has had over 1 million Android apps published, and over 50 billion apps downloaded.
[19] A developer survey conducted in April–May 2013 found that Android is used by 71% of mobile developers.
[20] The operating system's success has made it a target for patent litigation as part of the so-called "
smartphone wars" between technology companies.
[21][22] As of September 2013, one billion Android devices have been activated.
[23]
Android's
source code is released by Google under
open source licenses, although most Android devices ultimately ship with a combination of open source and proprietary software.
[3] Android is popular with technology companies which require a ready-made, low-cost and customizable operating system for
high-tech devices.
[24]
Android's open nature has encouraged a large community of developers
and enthusiasts to use the open-source code as a foundation for
community-driven projects, which add new features for advanced users
[25] or bring Android to devices which were officially released running other operating systems.
History
Android, Inc. was founded in
Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by
Andy Rubin (co-founder of
Danger),
[26] Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.),
[27] Nick Sears
[28] (once VP at
T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed design and interface development at
WebTV)
[12] to develop, in Rubin's words "smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences".
[12] The early intentions of the company were to develop an advanced operating system for
digital cameras,
when it was realised that the market for the devices was not large
enough, and diverted their efforts to producing a smartphone operating
system to rival those of
Symbian and
Windows Mobile.
[29]
Despite the past accomplishments of the founders and early employees,
Android Inc. operated secretly, revealing only that it was working on
software for mobile phones.
[12] That same year, Rubin ran out of money.
Steve Perlman, a close friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope and refused a stake in the company.
[30]
Google
acquired Android Inc. on August 17, 2005; key employees of Android
Inc., including Rubin, Miner, and White, stayed at the company after the
acquisition.
[12]
Not much was known about Android Inc. at the time, but many assumed
that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market with this
move.
[12] At Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the
Linux kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset makers and
carriers
on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradable system. Google had
lined up a series of hardware component and software partners and
signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation
on their part.
[31][32][33]
Speculation about Google's intention to enter the mobile communications market continued to build through December 2006.
[34] The unveiling of the
iPhone, a
touchscreen-based phone by
Apple, on January 9, 2007 had a
disruptive effect on the development of Android. At the time, a prototype device codenamed "Sooner" had a closer resemblance to a
BlackBerry phone, with no touchscreen, and a physical,
QWERTY
keyboard. Work immediately began on re-engineering the OS and its
prototypes to combine traits of their own designs with an overall
experience designed to compete with the iPhone.
[35][36] In September 2007,
InformationWeek covered an
Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony.
[37][38]
Eric Schmidt,
Andy Rubin and Hugo Barra at a press conference for the Google's Nexus 7 tablet.
On November 5, 2007, the
Open Handset Alliance, a
consortium of technology companies including Google, device manufacturers such as
HTC,
Sony and
Samsung, wireless carriers such as
Sprint Nextel and
T-Mobile, and chipset makers such as
Qualcomm and
Texas Instruments, unveiled itself, with a goal to develop
open standards for mobile devices.
[13] That day, Android was unveiled as its first product, a mobile device
platform built on the
Linux kernel version 2.6.25.
[13][39] The first commercially available smartphone running Android was the
HTC Dream, released on October 22, 2008.
[14]
In 2010, Google launched its
Nexus
series of devices – a line of smartphones and tablets running Android
operating system, and built by a manufacturing partner. HTC collaborated
with Google to release the first Nexus smartphone,
[40] the
Nexus One. The series has since been updated with newer devices, such as the
Nexus 5 phone and
Nexus 7 tablet, made by
LG and
Asus respectively. Google releases the Nexus phones and tablets to act as their
flagship Android devices, demonstrating Android's latest software and hardware features. On March 13, 2013, it was announced by
Larry Page in a blog post that Andy Rubin had moved from the Android division to take on new projects at Google.
[41] He was replaced by
Sundar Pichai, who also continues his role as the head of Google's Chrome division,
[42] which develops
Chrome OS.