Which Company Owns The Android Operating System?
The answer to this question is pretty simple and obvious for most of us, it is owned by Google.
In 2005 tech giant Google acquired the Android operating system from Android Inc., to develop the User Interface for the touchscreen devices like smartphones and tablets.
It is developed under the co-arrangement of developers called Open Handset Alliance(OHA), sponsored by Google. There are multiple partner companies in OHA including Samsung, HTC, Lenovo, and other smartphone manufacturers.
The first commercial smartphone available in the market was the HTC Dream, announced on the 23rd of September 2008.
Google's Android division is the primary development and maintenance team of the Android OS. They release new updates, features, security patches, and versions for the Android OS. They support it via the google play services which are present in most of the android devices that come under OHA and are backed by Google.
Who Else Has a Stake in Android OS?
Google is the main stakeholder of Android OS along with other partners in Open Handset Alliance(OHA) which develops their custom UI's over the Android OS. Google releases new versions of Android and security patches every now and then, which are then distributed by other manufacturers on their devices after doing certain modifications.
Google launched the AOSP(Android Open Source Project) under which anyone can download the source code and make modifications and improvements to it.
Amazon had used the AOSP in their fire phone, also the Chinese company named as Huawei banned by the USA government uses the AOSP to develop their smartphones in China. They don't include the google play service features, support, etc.
Who Created Android OS?
Andy Rubin is known as the father of android who started Andorid Inc., in 2003 and which is then got acquired by Google in 2005, also Andy Rubin is got hired as the senior vice president of mobile and digital content.
Learn More about the Operating System
To learn and understand more about the operating systems :
Conclusion
- The android operating system is used on more than 3 billion active devices across the globe.
- Andy Rubin is the founder of Android Inc. and developed the Android Operating system.
- Google is the primary stakeholder of the Android OS along with the members of the Open Handset Alliance which works on improving and maintaining the Android OS.
- Google launched the AOSP where anyone can download the source code and use it, modify it, and develop it further.