From Cup Cake To Jelly Bean: Android Now 5 Years Old!

On 5 November 2007, Android came into existence and nearly an year later, on 22 October 2008, the first Android smartphone, HTC Dream was showcased.  

Tuesday, November 06, 2012:  Happy Birthday Android! The Linux based operating system for smartphones and tablets have turned five years old. On 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of technology companies including Google and handset manufacturers like HTC and Samsung along with operators such as Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, and chip makers like Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, introduced its aim to develop an open standards for mobile devices and with this aim in sight, Android came into existence as its first product. Android was exclusively made for mobile devices based on the Linux Kernel 2.6.  

Nearly an year later, on 22 October 2008, the first Android smartphone, HTC Dream was showcased. The Dream ran on Android 1.6 aka Donut was based on a Qualcomm MSM7201A chipsetclocked at 528 MHz along with Adreno 130 GPU, 192 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM. Android evolved a lot in these five years and have become the most successful smartphone and tablet operating system till date.

A recent survey reveals that Android operating system is found on three out of every four smartphones shipped during the third quarter of 2012. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, total Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136.0 million units, accounting for 75 per cent of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in the this quarter with 91.5 per cent year-over-year growth, nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4 per cent.

Android, Inc. was founded in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears and Chris White Rubin wanted to create “smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences” and Android totally focused on this. Later, Android Inc ran out of cash and Google acquired it on 17 August 17 2005 and made its wholly owned subsidiary of the search giant.

Source: news.efytimes.com