Android is an operating system which runs on mobile computing devices such as tablets and cellular phones. It originated in 2005, as the chief product being developed by a company called Android, Inc. This company was founded by Andy Rubin and Rich Miner in order to develop Android. Google purchased the company in August, 2005 (Kirsner, 2007). In 2007, Google unveiled Android to the world, specifically as an alternative to Apple's iOS (Reed, 2010). In 2008, the first Android phones was unveiled, the T-Mobile G1. Although the phone didn't sell as many units as the iPhone, it would help show people the possibilities available to them with Android (Reed, 2010). Various hardware manufacturers have since joined the Android bandwagon including HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Asus, and more. As of today, Android has captured 33% of smartphone market share (Costa, 2011). In order to see why all of these hardware manufacturers have fallen in love with Android, we need to take a look at what it actually is.
The operating system (OS) itself is based on version 2.6 of the Linux kernel which has been modified to work specifically with Android. On top of this kernel, are a number of C/C++ APIs that allow for the accessing and use of the various hardware components of the device itself. Applications for Android are developed using the Java programming language mainly and are made useable on the OS by using a compiler to translate Java code into a program that is executable by a Dalvik virtual machine. This Dalvik virtual machine was created by Google to allow for the running of Java code on the Android platform. On top of all this is a user interface (UI) which is similar to that of Apple's iOS: it is made for touchscreens and is easily maneuverable. Tapping on-screen icons launches a variety of applications or menus. Now that we know what Android is, we can look at what benefits it offers.
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