What is android?

In 2007, the Open Handset Alliance announced the Android platform and launched

a beta program for developers. Android went through the typical revisions of a new

platform. Several prerelease revisions of the Android Software Development Kit

(SDK) were released. The first Android handset (the T-Mobile G1) began shipping in

late 2008. Throughout 2009 and 2010, new and exciting Android smartphones

reached markets throughout the world and the platform proved itself to industry

and consumers alike. Over the last three years, numerous revisions to the Android

platform have been rolled out, each providing compelling features for developers to

leverage and users to enjoy. Recently, mobile platforms have begun to consider

devices above and beyond the traditional smartphone paradigm, to other devices

like tablets, e-book readers, and set-top boxes like Google TV.

As of this writing, hundreds of varieties of Android devices are available to consumers

around the world—from high-end smartphones to low-end “free with contract”

handsets and everything in between. This figure does not include the numerous

Android tablet and e-book readers also available, the dozens of upcoming

devices already announced, or the consumer electronics running Android. (For a

nice list of Android devices, check out this Wikipedia link: http://goo.gl/fU2X5.)

There are more than 200,000 applications currently published on the Android

Market. In the United States, all major carriers now carry Android phones prominently

in their product lines, as do many in Asia, Europe, Central/South America,

and beyond. The rate of new Android devices reaching the world markets has continued

to increase.

Google has been a contributing member of the Open Handset Alliance from the

beginning. The company hosts the Android open source project as well as the developer

website at http://developer.android.com. This website is your go-to site for

downloading the Android SDK, getting the latest platform documentation, and

browsing the Android developer forums. Google also runs the most popular service

for selling Android applications to end users: the Android Market.