When compared to the iPhone the Android OS took completely different path in its development. Started as a platform for technical geeks Android gained all its functionalities quite gradually, applying them in regular releases, which unfortunately hit too often.
The whole story started not long ago when then independent company Android Inc was developing some soft for the mobile market. Quite a successful start up got a scrutinized attention of web-mogul Google and was bought in 2005. It was the time when there appeared some rumors that Google is going to enter the mobile market but most people took it as something completely impossible. So the mobile device platform on the base of the Linux kernel was actually developed by Andy Rubin team when they already were a part of Google and the first patents were filed in 2007 while the OS hit the market under the aegis of Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of such companies as Google, Intel, Nvidia, Marvell Technology Group, HTC, Motorola, LG and many others. The software was delivered under an Apache License and has been available as open source since 2008. All that means that vendors can add proprietary extensions without submitting those back to the open source community and, in fact, the major gadget manufacturers are keeping to that strategy which turned a good way to distinguish their products but at the same time the major obstacle in following the systemӳ regular upgrades.
During its not that long history the Android OS has faced a range of upgrades ֠4 to be more precise, namely Android 1.5 (a.k.a. Cupcake), based on Linux Kernel 2.6.27, Android 1.6 (a.k.a. Donut), based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29, Android 2.0/2.1 (a.k.a. Eclair), based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29, 2.2 (a.k.a. Froyo), based on Linux Kernel 2.6.32. Itӳ funny but every upgrade presents some sort of a dessert item, chosen in an alphabetical order.
With every upgrade the platform gained new functionalities and options arousing even more curiosity among the target audience and luring new customers and users. So, as the time was passing by, the platform was gradually undergoing a thorough change from quite a mediocre platform for crazy soft geeks to a subtle product which even those quite ignorant of computer technologies can use. Moreover, the platform managed to outrun other platforms which had been presented at the market for quite a while and at the moment occupies its place of one of the leaders of the mobile market positioning itself as one of the main Apple competitors if not the only one.