Android Inc. was a California based company created in 2003, this company is a joint venture of four men : Andy Rubin, Nick Sears, Chris White and Rich Miner. Andy Rubin spent 3 years as software engineer at Apple between 1989 and 1992.It seems that Android name is come after the name of Andy Rubin.
At the beginning, company’s intention was to develop advanced operating system for digital cameras but they change their idea to make advanced OS as to compete with Symbian and Windows Mobile.
Due to shortage of investments, Google joined the party and Larry Page, co-founder of google saw something in that business model and organized a secret meeting with Andy and Nick to test previous software development successfully which was created by Rubin in 2002.
On 17th August 2005, Android Inc. became Google Inc. In starting, Android was the very small part of Google and Android employees remains their own and not communicate too much with Google team. Up to December 2006.Google was busy in securing partnerships between hardware and software development companies whilst Andy Rubin and it’s team work on developing core Android OS based on Linux Kernel.
Before Android, Google was looking for other devices to run its apps like Nokia or blackberry devices. The idea was to make Android it’s own system to launch apps and google services. The idea of a new Android ecosystem was starting to emerge (a mobile ecosystem is a combination and interaction of multiple devices, software, manufacturers, carriers, developers and data processing).
Android OS vs IOS
In January 2007,Google got a blow when Steve Jobs launched first iPhone with a revolutionary user interface(UI).
In November 2007 Google announced the official creation of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of companies aimed at developing open standards for mobile devices, and first unveils Android to the public and In September 2008, Android 1.0 is released.It’s core features include camera support,web browser,Google apps with sync(Gmail,Contacts and Calender),basic maps and search functionality,a media player and notifications shown on status bar.
In October 2008, first Android mobile is launched in market as HTC Dream having Android version 1.0 and in November 2009,Motorola launched Droid .
Since July 2013, the Google Play store has had over one million Android applications.
The primary purposes of Android are to create an open software platform available for carriers, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEMs), and developers to make their innovative ideas a reality and to introduce a successful, real-world product that improves the mobile experience for users.
What is Android?
Android is a software package and linux based operating system for mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones. It is developed by Google and later the OHA (Open Handset Alliance).It is open source and anyone can customize it without any license. Java language is mainly used to write the android code but now kotlin is introduced which reduces the overhead of writing codes and even though other languages can be used. The goal of android project is to create a successful real-world product that improves the mobile experience for end users, it makes mobile apps more interactive, easy to use and lots of features are in Android package.There are many code names of android such as Lollipop, Kitkat, Jelly Bean, Ice cream Sandwich, Froyo, Ecliar, Donut,Nougat ,Oreo etc.
It provides many interesting features like weather details, opening screen, messaging services (MMS and SMS),web browser,storage (SQLite), connectivity (GSM,CDMA,Blue tooth,Wi-Fi etc),media,handset layout etc.
Pre-requisites to learn Android
- Google provides documentation for Android but one have to prior knowledge of core java. Java is pure object oriented programming language that can use for complex application development .Java is very convenient language to learn for beginners. Java is considered as professional language
- One have knowledge of OOPS that includes encapsulation, polymorphism, abstraction and inheritance.
- Learn about java basics token, array and operators, type casting , control statement, Interface and package, Multi threading and Exception handling, Generics and Collection classes.
You might be wondering why these prerequisites are important for Android development. Why you can’t jump directly to android Google Documentation?
The answer is very simple most android development tutorials are made up of a Java. If you don’t have enough knowledge in Java you can’t build a perfect android app.