Google Android mobile phone

Android is a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel. It was initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, and lately by the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in the Java language, controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries.

The unveiling of the Android distribution on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 47 hardware, software, and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free software and open source license.

The first phone to run the Android operating system was the HTC Dream, released on 22 October 2008.

By the end of 2009 there will be at least 18 phone models using Android worldwide, according to Google. In addition to the mobile devices that ship with Android, some users have been able (with some amount of hacking, and with limited functionality) to install it on mobile devices shipped with other OSes.