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Android is an operating system developed by Google, designed primarily for smartphones and tablets, based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software.…
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Android is an operating system developed by Google, designed primarily for smartphones and tablets, based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software. First released in 2008, Android is the world's most widely used operating system with 3.9 billion users, and the most used operating system for smartphones. The latest version, released on June 16, 2026, is Android 17.
Android is an operating system developed by Google, designed primarily for smartphones and tablets (touchscreen-based mobile devices originally; later for other devices, such as TVs and PCs), based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software. First released in 2008, Android is the world's most widely used operating system with 3.9 billion users, and the most used operating system for smartphones. The latest version, released on June 16, 2026, is Android 17.
At its core, the operating system is known as the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), was originally only made for a smartphone, and is free and open-source software (FOSS) primarily licensed under the Apache License. However, most devices run the proprietary Android open-core version developed by Google, which ships with additional proprietary closed-source software pre-installed, most notably Google Mobile Services (GMS), which includes core apps such as Google Chrome, the digital distribution platform Google Play, and the associated Google Play Services development platform. Other Google services including Firebase Cloud Messaging, used for push notifications, are recommended for applications. While AOSP is free, the "Android" name and logo are trademarks of Google, who restrict the use of Android branding on "uncertified" products. The majority of smartphones and other devices based on AOSP run Google's ecosystem—which is known simply as Android—some with vendor-customized user interfaces and software suites, for example One UI. Numerous modified distributions exist, which include competing Amazon Fire OS, community-developed LineageOS; the source code has also been used to develop a variety of Android distributions on a range of other devices, such as Android TV for televisions, Wear OS for wearables, Android Automotive for in-car systems, Android XR for virtual reality headsets, and Android for PCs. Commercial products like micro consoles have also used Android.
Software packages on Android, which use the APK format, are generally distributed through a proprietary application store; non-Google platforms include vendor-specific Amazon Appstore, Samsung Galaxy Store, Huawei AppGallery, and third-party companies Aptoide, Cafe Bazaar, GetJar or open source F-Droid. Since 2011 Android has been the most used operating system worldwide on smartphones. It has the largest installed base of any operating system in the world with over three billion monthly active users and accounting for 45% of the global operating system market.
Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, in October 2003 by Andy Rubin and Chris White, with Rich Miner and Nick Sears joining later. Rubin had previously been the creator of the T-Mobile Sidekick under his previous company Danger, Inc. Rubin and White started out to build an operating system for digital cameras viz FotoFrame. The company name was changed to Android as Rubin already owned the domain name android.com. After having built a prototype internally known as the "Fadden demo" predominantly by purchasing licensing agreements for most of the software components built around a custom JavaScript front-end, the company failed to convince investors, and so in April 2004 they pivoted to building an operating system for phones at the suggestion of Nick Sears, as a rival to Symbian and Microsoft Windows Mobile. Rubin pitched the Android project as having "tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences". Due to difficulty attracting investors early on, Android faced potential eviction from its office space. Steve Perlman, a close friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope, and shortly thereafter wired an undisclosed amount as seed funding. Perlman refused a stake in the company, and has stated "I did it because I believed in the thing, and I wanted to help Andy."
In 2005, Rubin tried to negotiate deals with Samsung and HTC. Shortly afterwards, Google acquired the company in July of that year for at least $50 million; this was Google's "best deal ever" according to Google's then-vice president of corporate development, David Lawee, in 2010. Android's key employees, including Rubin, Miner, Sears, and White, joined Google as part of the acquisition. Not much was known about the secretive Android Inc. at the time, with the company having provided few details other than that it was making software for mobile phones. 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, upgradeable system. Google had "lined up a series of hardware components and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation".
Speculation about Google's intention to enter the mobile communications market continued to build through December 2006. An early prototype had a close resemblance to a BlackBerry phone, with no touchscreen and a physical QWERTY keyboard, but the arrival of Apple's 2007 iPhone meant that Android "had to go back to the drawing board". Google later changed its Android specification documents to state that "Touchscreens will be supported", although "the Product was designed with the presence of discrete physical buttons as an assumption, therefore a touchscreen cannot completely replace physical buttons". By 2008, both Nokia and BlackBerry announced touch-based smartphones to rival the iPhone 3G, and Android's focus eventually switched to just touchscreens. The first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, announced on September 23, 2008.
Source: Android (operating system) (CC BY-SA)
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On November 5, 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of technology companies including Google, device manufacturers such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung, wireless carriers such as Sprint and T-Mobile, and chipset makers such as
