User:Mbibik/History of Android

Android Inc. founded in 2003
Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in October, 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, et al. to develop, in Rubin's words "...smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences." Other early key employees include Andy McFadden, who worked with Rubin at WebTV, and Chris White, who led the design and interface of WebTV, before helping to found Android. Rubin, a co-founder of Danger Inc., Miner, a co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc. and former vice-president of Technology and innovation at Orange, and the other early employees brought considerable wireless industry experience to the company. Despite the obvious past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretively, admitting only that it was working on software for mobile phones. At the time of the acquisition, because little was known about the work of Android Inc., some guessed that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market.

Development accelerates
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 premise 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. Speculation about Google's intention to enter the mobile communications market continued to build through December 2006. Reports from the BBC and The Wall Street Journal noted that Google wanted its search and applications on mobile phones and it was working hard to deliver that. Print and online media outlets soon reported rumors that Google was developing a Google-branded handset. Some speculated that as Google was defining technical specifications, it was showing prototypes to cell phone manufacturers and network operators. In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony.

Licensing
With the exception of brief update periods, Android has been available under a free software / open source license since 21 October 2008. Google published the entire source code (including network and telephony stacks) under an Apache License. Google also keeps the reviewed issues list publicly open for anyone to see and comment. Android is a trademark of Google; even though the software is open-source, device manufacturers can't use the Android name unless Google certifies that the device complies with their Compatibility Definition Document (CDD). In September 2010, Skyhook Wireless filed a lawsuit against Google in which they alleged "This entirely subjective review, conducted solely by Google employees with ultimate authority to interpret he scope and meaning of the CDD as they see fit, effectively gives Google the ability to arbitrarily deem any software, feature or function 'non-compatible' with the CDD."

Version history
Android has seen a number of updates since its original release. These updates to the base operating system typically fix bugs and add new features. Generally each new version of the Android operating system is developed under a code name based on a dessert item. The most recent released versions of Android are: Upcoming versions of Android are:
 * 2.0/2.1 (Eclair), which revamped the user interface and introduced HTML5 and Exchange ActiveSync 2.5 support
 * 2.2 (Froyo), which introduced speed improvements with JIT optimization and the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine, and added Wi-Fi hotspot tethering and Adobe Flash support
 * 2.3 (Gingerbread), which refined the user interface, improved the soft keyboard and copy/paste features, and added support for Near Field Communication
 * 3.0 (Honeycomb), a tablet-oriented release which supports larger screen devices and introduces many new user interface features, and supports multicore processors and hardware acceleration for graphics. The Honeycomb SDK has been released and the first device featuring this version, the Motorola Xoom tablet, went on sale in February 2011.
 * 2.4 (Gingerbread), an update to 2.3, anticipated to be released in April 2011.
 * Ice-cream sandwich, a combination of 2.3 Gingerbread and 3.0 Honeycomb into a "cohesive whole," with a possible release in mid-2011