Android, the operating system for mobile phones and tablets, was released five years ago on 23 September 2008. The operating system was initially developed for “smart” digital cameras. However, Google realised that camera industry was failing, and a new direction in development was needed, so they decided to shift focus to smart phones and tablets.

The idea was to have a Linux-based operating system that was enabled to manage smoothly the integrated hardware (touch screen, Wi-Fi, HSDPA, Bluetooth, etc.) of mobile devices. At the outset there was no intention to use the Java language. However, when Google acquired Android Inc. in July 2005, the virtual machine, responsible for the user interface and running applications, was built on the Linux kernel.

Android was meant to be the mobile rival to Symbian and Windows, since iOS was not considered serious competition at the time. It was not even publicly released when Android began development. The iOS was only introduced on 29 June 2007, first with iPhone, then with iPod Touch launched in September 2007.

Perceiving Apple’s dominance in the smart phone market, Google partnered up with a number of mobile phone manufacturers. Google’s partnership with Samsung proved to be the most profitable; the South Korean company can currently boast with the best sales figures in the world.