Android Sweet History

Everyone now knows Android even if it’s not a technical knowledge or knows what really is Android, they heard about it or use it unconsciously, Google says there are now 1.4 billion active Android devices worldwide and statistics shows that android dominated the smartphone market with a share of 82%.

Android is a operating system developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a coalition of hardware, software and telecommunications companies. Android OS is a Linux kernel based platform designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Google has further developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars, and Android Wear for wrist watches, each with a specialized user interface.

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, including proprietary software required for accessing Google services.

The first commercial version ” Android 1.0” was released in 23 September 2008, and has seen a number of updates. Each major release is named in alphabetical order after a dessert or sugary treat, Versions 1.0 and 1.1 were not released under specific code names, but since April 2009's Android 1.5 "Cupcake", Android versions have had confectionery-themed code names :

• 1.0        - September 23, 2008

• 1.1         - February 9, 2009

• 1.5 Cupcake April 27, 2009
• 1.6 Donut September 15, 2009
• 2.0 - 2.1 Eclair October 26, 2009
• 2.2 - 2.2.3 Froyo May 20, 2010
• 2.3 - 2.3.7 Gingerbread December 6, 2010
• 3.0 - 3.0.6 Honeycomb February 22, 2011
• 4.0 - 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich October 18, 2011
• 4.1 - 4.3.1 Jelly Bean July 9, 2012
• 4.4 - 4.4.4 KitKat October 31, 2013
• 5.0 - 5.1.1 Lollipop November 12, 2014
• 6.0 - 6.0.1 Marshmallow October 5, 2015
• 7.0 Nougat August 2016

On top of the Linux kernel, there are the middleware, libraries and APIs written in C, and application software running on an application framework which includes java-compatible libraries. Development of the Linux kernel continues independently of other Android's source code bases.

Android has an active community of developers and enthusiasts who use the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) source code to develop and distribute their own modified versions of the operating system.These community-developed releases often bring new features and updates to devices faster than through the official manufacturer/carrier channels, with a comparable level of quality, provide continued support for older devices that no longer receive official updates; or bring Android to devices that were officially released running other operating systems.

Google updated the Android distributions  numbers today for the month of July, showing Marshmallow jumping up to 13.3% of the share. That’s up from the 10.1% of last month and continues to show the slow, but steady climb of the latest version of stable Android.

An Android app is a software application developed for use on devices powered by Google's Android platform.  Android apps are available in the Google Play Store (formerly known as the Android Market).

There are over 13,000 Android applications that have been downloaded over one million times from the Google Play.

These are the Google Play apps with over one billion downloads on unique devices. there are 15 applications to make it into this top category; all are owned either by Google or Facebook :

• Gmail (Google)
• Google Maps (Google)
• YouTube (Google)
• Facebook (Facebook)
• Google Hangouts (Google)
• Google search (Google)
• Google+    (Google)
• WhatsApp Messenger (Facebook)
• Google text-to-speech (Google)
• Google Play Books (Google)
• Messenger (Facebook)
• Google Chrome (Google)
• Google Play Games (Google)
• Google Play Music    (Google)
• Google Drive (Google)

“I believe the mobile OS market will play out very similarly to Windows and Macintosh, with Android in the role of Windows. And so, if you want to be in front of the largest number of users, you need to be on Android.” Fred Wilson