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Android and Android Phones

Android powers hundreds of millions of mobile devices in more than 190 countries around the world. It's the largest installed base of any mobile platform and growing fast—every day another million users power up their Android devices for the first time and start looking for apps, games, and other digital content.

Android gives you a world-class platform for creating apps and games for Android users everywhere, as well as an open marketplace for distributing to them instantly.

Android is a Linux -based operating system for mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet computers, developed by Google in conjunction with the Open Handset Alliance. Android was initially developed by Android Inc, whom Google financially backed and later purchased in 2005.

The unveiling of the Android distribution in 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 86 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google releases the Android code as open-source, under the Apache License. The Android Open Sources Product (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android.

Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of the devices. Developers write primarily in a customized version of Java,and apps can be downloaded from online stores such as Google Play (formerly Android Market), the app store run by Google, or third-party sites. In June 2012, there were more than 600,000 apps available for Android, and the estimated number of applications downloaded from Google Play was 20 billion.

Android became the world’s leading Smartphone platform at the end of 2010.For the first quarter of 2012, Android had a 59% Smartphone market share worldwide.[As of third quarter 2012, there were 400 million devices activated and 1.3 million activations per day.

Many companies including Nokia and Research in Motion have been struggling to compete with Apple and manufacturers of devices running Google's Android software. That shows in some of the earnings reports released so far for the latest quarter.

Here's a look at how makers of phones and tablet computers are doing:

— July 10: BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. asks disgruntled investors at a shareholders meeting for patience as it develops new devices to rival the iPhone and Android smartphones. The company reiterates a warning that the next several quarters will be challenging. It also expects to report another operating loss in the current quarter, which ends Sept. 1, as the company cuts prices to sell its older BlackBerry models.

Some phone makers are quietly exploring alternatives to the Android operating system implicated in the Samsung-Apple ruling, industry watchers say, despite their public pronouncements they are sticking with the technology.

Last week, a US court ruled Samsung's Android devices were violating Apple patents - a major blow to the leading mobile software platform because it could lead to sales bans and high licensing fees.

— July 19: Nokia Corp. says its net loss nearly quadrupled in the second quarter on sagging sales of smartphones, which fell 39 percent from a year ago to 10.2 million. The company's stock jumped, however, as sales of low-end phones buoyed revenue and shipments of the new Lumia phones, which run on Windows software and will replace the older smartphone models, were not as bad as feared. In North America, sales of the Lumia phones offset declines in traditional Symbian devices.

which completed its purchase of Motorola Mobility during the quarter, says it saw strengths in North America with Verizon Wireless, driven by the Razr Maxx device. But it says international sales of basic cellphones and mid-tier smartphones declined. Google reiterates that 1 million new Android devices from various phone makers are being activated each day, with more than 400 million activated worldwide.

— July 24: Apple Inc. says it sold 26 million iPhones, 28 percent more than a year ago. It also sold 17 million iPads, an 84 percent increase and a quarterly record. But average selling prices for both products were down.

The impact could also hit smaller vendors that use Android such as HTC, ZTE, and Sony. Android is used in more than two-thirds of Smartphone.

Android was built from the ground-up to enable developers to create compelling mobile applications that take full advantage of all a handset has to offer. It was built to be truly open. For example, an application can call upon any of the phone’s core functionality such as making calls, sending text messages, or using the camera, allowing developers to create richer and more cohesive experiences for users. Android is built on the open Linux Kernel.

Furthermore, it utilizes a custom virtual machine that was designed to optimize memory and hardware resources in a mobile environment. Android is open source; it can be liberally extended to incorporate new cutting edge technologies as they emerge. The platform will continue to evolve as the developer community works together to build innovative mobile applications.

Android does not differentiate between the phone’s core applications and third-party applications. They can all be built to have equal access to a phone’s capabilities providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services. With devices built on the Android Platform, users are able to fully tailor the phone to their interests. They can swap out the phone's homescreen, the style of the dialer, or any of the applications. They can even instruct their phones to use their favorite photo viewing application to handle the viewing of all photos.

Android breaks down the barriers to building new and innovative applications. For example, a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual’s mobile phone — such as the user’s contacts, calendar, or geographic location — to provide a more relevant user experience. With Android, a developer can build an application that enables users to view the location of their friends and be alerted when they are in the vicinity giving them a chance to connect.

Android provides access to a wide range of useful libraries and tools that can be used to build rich applications. For example, Android enables developers to obtain the location of the device, and allows devices to communicate with one another enabling rich peer–to–peer social applications. In addition, Android includes a full set of tools that have been built from the ground up alongside the platform providing developers with high productivity and deep insight into their applications.

Submitted by: Gregorio, Kristelle Joy L.

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