Android could be a mobile OS developed by Google. It is supported a changed version of the UNIX system kernel and different open supply package, and is intended primarily for touchscreen mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. In addition, Google has further developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars, and Wear OS for wrist watches, each with a specialized user interface. Variants of automaton are used on game consoles, digital cameras, PCs and other electronics.
Initially developed by automaton INC., which Google bought in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007, with the first commercial Android device launched in September 2008. The operating system has since gone through multiple major releases, with the currently stable version being 9 "Pie", released in August 2018. Google released the first Android Q beta on all Pixel phones on March 13, 2019. The core automaton ASCII text file is thought as automaton Open supply Project (AOSP), and is primarily licensed under the Apache License.
Android is additionally related to a set of proprietary package developed by Google, called Google Mobile Services (GMS) that very frequently comes pre-installed in devices, which usually includes the Google Chrome applications programme and Google Search and perpetually includes core apps for services like Gmail, as well as the application store and digital distribution platform Google Play, and associated development platform. These apps area unit licenced by makers of automaton devices certified underneath standards obligatory by Google, but AOSP has been used as the basis of competing Android ecosystems, such as Amazon.com's hearth OS, that use their own equivalents to GMS.
Android has been the popular OS worldwide on smartphones since 2011 and on tablets since 2013. As of could 2017, it's over 2 billion monthly active users, the biggest put in base of any OS, and as of December 2018, the Google Play store features over 2.6 million apps.
