Seminar Report

On
ANDROID MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM

Submitted by:
Ravika Batra
I.T. III year
Univ. Roll No.-0806313037

Department Of computer Science, G.L.A. Institute Of Technology and

Management,Mathura
Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating
system, middleware and key applications. Google Inc. purchased the initial developer of the
software, Android Inc., in 2005. Android's mobile operating system is based on the Linux
kernel. Google and other members of the Open Handset Alliance collaborated on Android's
development and release. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the
maintenance and further development of Android. The Android operating system is the
world's best-selling Smartphone platform.

Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the

functionality of the devices. There are currently over 250,000 apps available for
Android. Android Market is the online app store run by Google, though apps can also be
downloaded from third-party sites. Developers write primarily in the Java language,
controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries.

The unveiling of the Android distribution on 5 November 2007 was announced with the
founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 80hardware, software,
and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. google
released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free software and open source
license.

The Android open-source software stack consists of Java applications running on a Java-

based, object-oriented application framework on top of Java core libraries running on
a Dalvik virtual machine featuring JIT compilation. Libraries written in C include the surface
manager, OpenCore] media framework,SQLite relational database management
system, OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics API, WebKit layout engine, SGL graphics engine, SSL,
and Bionic libc. The Android operating system, including the Linux kernel, consists of
roughly 12 million lines of code including 3 million lines of XML, 2.8 million lines ofC,
2.1 million lines of Java, and 1.75 million lines of C++.

Contents
 

1 History
o 1.1 Android Inc. founded in 2003
o 1.2 Android Inc. acquired by Google
o 1.3 Development accelerates
o 1.4 Open Handset Alliance
o 1.5 Licensing
o 1.6 Version history
2 Features
 3 Hardware running Android
4 Software development
o 4.1 Android Market
o 4.1.1 History

4.1.2Priced applications
o 4.1.1.1 Availability for users
o 4.1.2 .2Availability for
developers
4.1. 3.Banned applications
4.1.4. Implementation details
4.1. 5.Application security
4.1. 6.Known issues

o 4.2 App Inventor for Android

o 4.3 The Simple project
o 4.4 Android Developer Challenge
o 4.5 Google applications
o 4.6 Third party applications
o 4.7 Mobile gaming
o 4.8 Native code
o 4.9 Community-based firmware
5 Security
6 Marketing
o 6.1 Market share
o 6.2 Usage share
7 Linux compatibility
8 Claimed infringement of copyrights and
patents

History
Android Inc. founded in 2003
Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in October, 2003 by Andy
Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications,
Inc.), Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed design and interface
development at WebTV)  to develop, in Rubin's words "...smarter mobile devices that are
more aware of its owner's location and preferences." Despite the obvious past
accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretively,
admitting only that it was working on software for mobile phones.
Android Inc. acquired by Google
Google acquired Android Inc. in August, 2005, making Android Inc. a wholly owned
subsidiary of Google Inc. Key employees of Android Inc., including Andy Rubin, Rich Miner
and Chris White, stayed at the company after the acquisition.

Not much was known about Android Inc. at the time of the acquisition, but many assumed
that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market with this move.
Development accelerates
At Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux
kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset makers and carriers on the premise of
providing a flexible, upgradable system. Google had lined up a series of hardware component
and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of
cooperation on their part.

Speculation about Google's intention to enter the mobile communications market continued
to build through December 2006. Reports from the BBC and The Wall Street Journal noted
that Google wanted its search and applications on mobile phones and it was working hard to
deliver that. Print and online media outlets soon reported rumors that Google was developing
a Google-brandedhandset. Some speculated that as Google was defining technical
specifications, it was showing prototypes to cell phone manufacturers and network operators.

In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google

had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony.
Open Handset Alliance
Today's announcement is more ambitious than any single 'Google Phone' that the press has
been speculating about over the past few weeks. Our vision is that the powerful platform
we're unveiling will power thousands of different phone models."
Eric Schmidt, former Google Chairman/CEO

On the November 5, 2007 the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies

which include Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG,Marvell Technology
Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, T-
Mobile and Texas Instruments unveiled itself. The goal of the Open Handset Alliance is to
develop open standards for mobile devices. On the same day, the Open Handset Alliance also
unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux
kernel version 2.6.
On December 9, 2008, 14 new members joined, including ARM Holdings, Atheros
Communications, Asustek Computer Inc, Garmin Ltd, PacketVideo,Softbank, Sony
Ericsson, Toshiba Corp, and Vodafone Group Plc.
Licensing
With the exception of brief update periods, Android has been available under a free
software/open source license since October, 21 2008. Google published the entire source
code (including network and telephony stacks) under an Apache License. Google also keeps
the reviewed issues list publicly open for anyone to see and comment.

Even though the software is open-source, device manufacturers can not use Google's Android
trademark unless Google certifies that the device complies with their Compatibility
Definition Document (CDD). Devices must also meet this definition to be eligible to license
Google's closed-source applications, including Android Market.

In September 2010, Skyhook Wireless filed a lawsuit against Google in which they alleged

that Google had used the compatibility document to block Skyhook's mobile positioning
service (XPS) from Motorola's Android mobile devices. In December 2010 a judge denied
Skyhook's motion for preliminary injunction, saying that Google had not closed off the
possibility of accepting a revised version of Skyhook's XPS service, and that Motorola had
terminated their contract with Skyhook because Skyhook wanted to disable Google's location
data collection functions on Motorola's devices, which would have violated Motorola's
obligations to Google and its carriers.
Version history

Android version history

The version history of the Android operating system began with the release of version 1.0
in September 2008. Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google and the Open
Handset Alliance. Android has seen a number of updates since its original release. These
updates to the base operating system typically fix bugs and add new features. Generally each
version is developed under a code name based on a dessert item. The code names are in
alphabetical order, as seen by Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, and
the future version, Ice Cream Sandwich.

Beta

Released 5 November 2007Conference Call transcript SDK Released 12 November 2007.

1.0

HTC Dream (G1)

Released 23 September 2008. The first Android device, the HTC Dream (G1), had these

Android 1.0 features:

 Android Market application download and updates through the Market app

 Browser to show, zoom and pan full HTML and XHTML web pages - multiple pages
show as Windows ("Cards"). Video 
 Camera support but no way to change resolution, white balance, compression, etc.
 Email provides access to email servers commonly found on the Internet and supports
POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP.
 Folders allow you to group a number of app icons into a single folder icon on the
Home screen.
 Gmail synchronization with the Gmail app
 Google Contacts synchronization with the People app
 Google Calendar synchronization with the Calendar app
 Google Maps with Latitude and Google Street View to view maps and satellite
imagery, as well as find local business and get driving directions using GPS.
 Google Sync allows management of over-the-air synchronization of Gmail, People,
and Calendar
 Google Search of the internet and phone apps, contacts, calendar, etc.
 Google Talk instant messaging
 Instant messaging and text messaging, IM, and MMS
 Media Player enables managing, importing, and playing back but lacked video and
stereo Bluetooth support
 Notifications appear in the Status bar - drag down to see details, also ringtone, LEDs
and vibration options.
 Voice Dialer allows dialing and placing of phone calls without typing a name or
number
 Wallpaper allows the user to set the background image or photo behind the Home
screen icons and widgets.
 YouTube video player
 Other apps include: Alarm Clock, Calculator, Dialer (Phone), Home screen
(launcher), Pictures (Gallery), and Settings.
 Other supported features include: WiFi, and Bluetooth.
1.1

On 9 February 2009, Android 1.1 update for Android was released for T-Mobile G1 Only.
Included in the update were resolved issues, API changes and:

 Maps: Adds details and reviews when a user does a search on Maps and clicks on a
business to view its details.
 Dialer: In-call screen timeout default is now longer when using the speakerphone,
Show/Hide Dialpad
 Messaging: Saving attachments
 System: Adds support for marquee in layouts.
1.5 (Cupcake)
The Android Emulator default home screen (v1.5).

Based on Linux kernel 2.6.27. On 30 April 2009, the official 1.5 (Cupcake) update for
Android was released. There were several new features and UI updates included in the 1.5
update:

 Virtual keyboard: Support for 3rd party keyboards with text prediction & user
dictionary for custom words
 Widgets: Are miniature application views that can be embedded in other applications
(such as the Home screen) and receive periodic updates[15]
 Camera: Video recording
 Gallery: Video playback (MPEG-4 & 3GP formats)
 Bluetooth: Stereo support added (A2DP and AVRCP profiles), Auto-pairing
 Browser: Copy and paste features added
 Contacts: Shows user picture for Favorites
 Dialer: Specific date/time stamp for events in call log and one-touch access to a
contact card from call log event
 System: Animated screen transitions
 Upload videos to YouTube
 Upload photos on Picasa
1.6 (Donut)
Based on Linux kernel 2.6.29.On 15 September 2009, the 1.6 (Donut) SDK was released.
Included in the update were:

 Search: Voice Search & text entry search enhanced to include bookmarks & history,
contacts, the web, and more
 Search: Developers can now include their content in search results
 Text to speech: Features a multi-lingual speech synthesis engine to allow any Android
application to "speak" a string of text
 Android Market: Allows easier searching, app screenshots, etc.
 Camera, camcorder, and Gallery: Updated integrated with faster camera access
 Gallery: Now enables users to select multiple photos for deletion
 System: Updated technology support for CDMA/EVDO, 802.1x, VPNs, and a text-to-
speech engine
 Display: Support for WVGA screen resolutions
 Speed improvements in searching and camera applications
 Expanded Gesture framework and new Gesture Builder development tool
 Google free turn-by-turn navigation
2.0 / 2.1 (Eclair)

HTC Desire

Based on Linux kernel 2.6.29 On 26 October 2009, the 2.0 (Eclair) SDK was
released. Changes included:

 Sync: Expanded Account sync. Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email
and contact synchronization
 Email: Exchange support, Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in
one page.
 Bluetooth: 2.1 support
 Contacts: Tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person.
 Messaging: Search all saved SMS and MMS messages. Auto delete oldest messages
in a conversation when a defined limit is reached.
 Camera: Flash support, Digital zoom, Scene mode, White balance, Color effect,
Macro focus
 Virtual keyboard: Improved typing speed, smarter dictionary learns from word usage
and includes contact names as suggestions.
 Browser: Refreshed UI, Bookmark thumbnails, Double-tap zoom, Support for
HTML5
 Calendar: Agenda view enhanced, Attending status for each invitee, Invite new guests
to events.
 System: Optimized hardware speed, Revamped UI
 Display: Support for more screen sizes and resolutions, Better contrast ratio
 Maps: Improved Google Maps 3.1.2
 MotionEvent class enhanced to track multi-touch events
 Live Wallpapers: Home screen background images can be animated to show
movement
The 2.0.1 SDK was released on 3 December 2009.

The 2.1 SDK was released on 12 January 2010.

2.2 (Froyo)
LG Optimus One

2.2.2 latest release. Based on Linux kernel 2.6.32. On 20 May 2010, the 2.2 (Froyo) SDK was
released. Changes included:

 System: Speed, memory, and performance optimizations

 Additional application speed improvements courtesy of JIT implementation
 Integration of Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine into the Browser application
 Improved Microsoft Exchange support (security policies, auto-discovery, GAL look-
up, calendar synchronization, remote wipe)
 Improved application launcher with shortcuts to Phone and Browser applications
 USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality
 Added an option to disable data access over mobile network
 Updated Market application with batch and automatic update features
 Quick switching between multiple keyboard languages and their dictionaries
 Voice dialing and contact sharing over Bluetooth
 Support for numeric and alphanumeric passwords
 Support for file upload fields in the Browser application
 Support for installing applications to the expandable memory
 Adobe Flash support
 Support for extra high DPI screens (320 dpi), such as 4" 720p
2.3 (Gingerbread)

Nexus S

2.3.4 latest release. Based on Linux kernel 2.6.35. On 6 December 2010, the 2.3
(Gingerbread) SDK was released.] Changes included:

 Support for voice or video chat using Google Talk Google Blog/video

 System: Updated user interface design for simplicity and speed
 Display: Support for extra-large screen sizes and resolutions (WXGA and higher)
 Internet calling: Native support for SIP VoIP telephony
 Virtual Keyboard: Faster, more intuitive text input, improved accuracy, better
suggested text. Voice input mode
 Copy/Paste: Enhanced. Select a word by press-hold, copy, and paste.
 Near Field Communication lets the user read an NFC tag embedded in a poster,
sticker, or advertisement.
 New audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass
boost
 System: Improved power management with a more active role in managing apps that
are keeping the device awake for too long.
 Download Manager gives the user easy access to any file downloaded from the
browser, email, or another application.
 Camera: Access multiple cameras on the device, including a front-facing camera, if
available.
 Media: Support for WebM/VP8 video playback, and AAC audio encoding
 System: Enhanced support for native code development
 Audio, graphical, and input enhancements for game developers
 Concurrent garbage collection for increased performance
 Native support for more sensors (such as gyroscopes and barometers)
 Switched from YAFFS to the ext4 filesystem
3.0 (Honeycomb)

Motorola Xoom tablet

3.01 latest release. Based on Linux kernel 2.6.36. On 22 February 2011 the 3.0 (Honeycomb)
SDK was released for tablets. This is a tablet-only release of Android. The first device
featuring this version, theMotorola Xoom tablet, was released on February 24, 2011.

Changes include:

 Optimized tablet support with a new virtual and “holographic” user interface
 System Bar: Quick access to notifications, status, and soft navigation buttons
available at the bottom of the screen.
 Action Bar: Access to contextual options, navigation, widgets, or other types of
content at the top of the screen.
 Multitasking: Tap Recent Apps in the System Bar, to see snapshots of the tasks
underway and quickly jump from one app to another.
 Redesigned keyboard: To make entering text fast and accurate on larger screen sizes
with greater accuracy and efficiency
 Copy/Paste: Simplified, more intuitive.
 Browser: Multiple tabs replace browser windows, form auto-fill, and a new
“incognito” mode allows anonymous browsing.
 Camera: Quick access to exposure, focus, flash, zoom, front-facing camera, time-
lapse, and more.
 Gallery: View albums and other collections in full-screen mode, with easy access to
thumbnails for other photos.
 Contacts: New two-pane UI and Fast Scroll to let users easily organize and locate
contacts.
 Email: New two-pane UI to make viewing and organizing messages more efficient.
The app lets users select one or more messages.
 Support for video chat using Google Talk
 Hardware acceleration
 Support for multi-core processors
Features
Current features and specifications:

The Android Emulator default home screen (v1.5).

Architecture Diagram

The platform is adaptable to larger, VGA, 2D graphics library, 3D

Handset
graphics library based on OpenGL ES 2.0 specifications, and traditional
layouts
smartphone layouts.

Storage SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data storage purposes

Android supports connectivity technologies

including GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (no
Connectivity
connections throughProxy server[58] and no Ad hoc wireless
network[59]), LTE, NFC and WiMAX.

SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging, including threaded text

Messaging messaging and now Android Cloud to Device Messaging Framework (C2DM)
is also a part of Android Push Messaging service.

Multiple Languages are available on Android. More than double Languages

Multiple
were added to the platform 2.3 (Gingerbread). Yet, Android lacks in Font
Language
rendering of several languages even after official announcements of added
Support
support (e.g Hindi).

The web browser available in Android is based on the open-

Web
source WebKit layout engine, coupled with Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine.
browser
The browser scores a 93/100 on the Acid3 Test.

Java support While most Android applications are written in Java, there is no Java Virtual
Machine in the platform and Java byte code is not executed. Java classes are
compiled into Dalvik executables and run on the Dalvik virtual machine.
Dalvik is a specialized virtual machine designed specifically for Android and
 optimized for battery-powered mobile devices with limited memory and
CPU. J2ME support can be provided via third-party-applications.

Android supports the following audio/video/still media

Media formats: WebM, H.263, H.264 (in 3GP or MP4 container), MPEG-4
support SP, AMR, AMR-WB (in 3GP container), AAC, HE-AAC (in MP4 or 3GP
container), MP3, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP.[57]

RTP/RTSP streaming (3GPP PSS, ISMA), HTML progressive download

(HTML5 <video> tag). Adobe Flash Streaming (RTMP) and HTTP Dynamic
Streaming Streaming are supported by the Flash 10.1 plugin.[60] Apple HTTP Live
media Streaming is supported by RealPlayer for Mobile[61] and planned to be
support supported by the operating system in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).[49] Microsoft
Smooth Streaming is planned to be supported through the awaited port of
Silverlight plugin to Android.

Android can use video/still

Additional cameras, touchscreens, GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers,
hardware dedicated gaming controls,proximity and pressure sensors, thermometers,
support accelerated 2D bit blits (with hardware orientation, scaling, pixel format
conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics.

Includes a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance

Development profiling. The integrated development environment (IDE) is Eclipse(currently
environment 3.4 or greater) using the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin. The
programming languages are Java and C/C++.

The Android Market is a catalog of applications that can be downloaded and

Market
installed to Android devices over-the-air, without the use of a PC.

Android has native support for multi-touch which was initially made available

in handsets such as the HTC Hero. The feature was originally disabled at the
Multi-touch kernel level (possibly to avoid infringing Apple's patents on touch-screen
technology at the time).[62] Google has since released an update for the Nexus
One and the Motorola Droid which enables multi-touch natively.[63]

Bluetooth Supports A2DP, AVRCP, sending files (OPP), accessing the phone book

(PBAP), voice dialing and sending contacts between phones. Keyboard,
mouse and joystick (HID) support is available through manufacturer
customizations and third-party applications. Full HID support is planned for
 Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).[49]

The mainstream Android version does not support video calling, but some
handsets have a customized version of the operating system which supports it,
Video calling either via UMTS network (like the Samsung Galaxy S) or over IP. Video
calling through Google Talk is planned for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).
Android 3.3.4 has added Video calling through Google Talk.

Multitasking Multitasking of applications is available.[64]

Google search through Voice has been available since initial release.[65] Voice
Voice based
actions for calling, texting, navigation, etc. are supported on Android 2.2
features
onwards.[66]

Android supports tethering, which allows a phone to be used as a

Tethering wireless/wired hotspot. Prior to Android 2.2 this was supported by third-party
applications or manufacturer customizations.[67]

Hardware running Android

The main supported platform for Android is the ARM architecture.

The Android OS can be used as an operating system for cellphones, netbooks and tablets,
including the Dell Streak, Samsung Galaxy Tab, TV and other devices. The first
commercially available phone to run the Android operating system was the HTC Dream,
released on 22 October 2008. In early 2010 Google collaborated with HTC to launch its
flagship Android device, the Nexus One. This was followed later in 2010 with the Samsung-
made Nexus S.

iOS and Android 2.2.1 Froyo may be set up to dual boot on a jailbroken iPhone or iPod

Touch with the help of iBoot and iDroid.

The smartphone IVIO Icon Pro (DE88) has 2 card slots support CDMA 1xEV-DO along with
GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks simultaneously. The operating system is Android 2.2 Froyo and
upgradable to Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
Software development

Early Android device.

The early feedback on developing applications for the Android platform was mixed. Issues
cited include bugs, lack of documentation, inadequate QA infrastructure, and no public issue-
tracking system. (Google announced an issue tracker on 18 January 2008.) In December
2007, MergeLab mobile startup founder Adam MacBeth stated, "Functionality is not there, is
poorly documented or just doesn't work... It's clearly not ready for prime time."[77] Despite
this, Android-targeted applications began to appear the week after the platform was
announced. The first publicly available application was the Snake game.[78][79] TheAndroid
Dev Phone is a SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked device that is designed for advanced
developers. While developers can use regular consumer devices purchased at retail to test and
use their applications, some developers may choose not to use a retail device, preferring an
unlocked or no-contract device.

The Android software development kit (SDK) includes a comprehensive set of development

tools.[80] These include a debugger, libraries, a handset emulator(based on QEMU),
documentation, sample code, and tutorials. The SDK is downloadable on the android
developer website. Currently supported development platforms include computers
running Linux (any modern desktop Linux distribution), Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later, Windows
XP or later. The officially supportedintegrated development environment (IDE)
is Eclipse (currently 3.5 or 3.6) using the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin, though
developers may use any text editor to edit Java and XML files then use command line tools
(Java Development Kit and Apache Ant are required) to create, build and debug Android
applications as well as control attached Android devices (e.g., triggering a reboot, installing
software package(s) remotely).

A preview release of the Android SDK was released on 12 November 2007. On 15 July 2008,
the Android Developer Challenge Team accidentally sent an email to all entrants in the
Android Developer Challenge announcing that a new release of the SDK was available in a
"private" download area. The email was intended for winners of the first round of the
Android Developer Challenge. The revelation that Google was supplying new SDK releases
to some developers and not others (and keeping this arrangement private) led to widely
reported frustration within the Android developer community at the time.[82]

On 18 August 2008 the Android 0.9 SDK beta was released. This release provided an
updated and extended API, improved development tools and an updated design for the home
screen. Detailed instructions for upgrading are available to those already working with an
earlier release. On 23 September 2008 the Android 1.0 SDK (Release 1) was
released. According to the release notes, it included "mainly bug fixes, although some smaller
features were added." It also included several API changes from the 0.9 version. Multiple
versions have been released since.

Enhancements to Android's SDK go hand in hand with the overall Android platform
development. The SDK also supports older versions of the Android platform in case
developers wish to target their applications at older devices. Development tools are
downloadable components, so after one has downloaded the latest version and platform, older
platforms and tools can also be downloaded for compatibility testing.

Android applications are packaged in .apk format and stored under /data/app folder on the

Android OS (the folder is accessible to root user only for security reasons). APK package
contains .dex files (compiled byte code files called Dalvik executables), resource files, etc.
Android Market
Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android devices. An
application program ("app") called "Market" is preinstalled on most Android devices and
allows users to browse and download apps published by third-party developers, hosted on
Android Market. Users can also search for and read detailed information about apps from the
Android Market website.
History
The current Android Market on an Android phone

The Android Market was announced on 28 August 2008 and was made available to users on
22 October 2008. Priced application support was added for U.S. users and developers in the
U.S. and UK in mid-February 2009. UK users gained the ability to purchase priced
applications on 13 March 2009.

On 17 March 2009, there were about 2,300 applications available for download from the
Android Market, according to T-Mobile chief technical officer Cole Brodman.[4]

By December 2009, there were over 20,000 applications available for download in the
Android Market.

By August 2010, there were over 80,000[6] applications available for download in the Android
Market, with over 1 billion application downloads. Recent months (in 2010) have shown an
ever increasing growth rate, recently (in May 2010) surpassing 10,000 additional applications
per month.

A report in July 2010, a company named Distimo showed that the Android Market features
the highest percentage of free apps, with over 57% being free to download, double the
amount of Apple Inc.'s App Store, in which only 28% of apps are free. Other competitors,
such as Nokia's Ovi Store and Blackberry'sApp World had 26%, with Windows
Marketplace only having 22%.

In December 2010, it was reported that the Market would shortly receive an update, which
will, alongside some minor updates, will add content-filtering to the market, and will reduce
the purchase refund window from 24/48 hours to 15 minutes. Google has said that the new
update would be available to all devices running Android 1.6 or higher, and arrived on
unlocked HTC Desires in the UK on 16th December.

On December 31, 2010 the Android market reached the 200,000 app milestone.

On February 2, 2011 Google presented a new web client providing access to the market via
PC. Requested Apps will directly be downloaded and installed on the registered Android
device.

At May 1, 2011 Android apps were 294,738 and Apple apps were 381,062, but in April 2011
Android had 28,000 new apps, whereas Apple had 11,000 new apps. App store analytics
company Distimo forecasted Android apps would surpass Apple apps in size before end of
July 2011, whereas Germany-basedresearch2guidance forecasted Android apps to surpass
Apple apps in August 2011 at 425,000 apps.
Priced applications

Developers of software (apps) receive 70% of the application price, with the remaining 30%
distributed among carriers (if authorized to receive a fee for applications purchased through
their network) and payment processors.[15] Revenue earned from the Android Market is paid
to developers via Google Checkout merchant accounts. T-Mobile, the first carrier with an
Android device, recently updated the market to allow Google to directly bill app purchases to
a customer's cell phone account that show up as a charge on the bill.
Availability for users
Users outside the countries/regions listed below only have access to free applications through
Android Market. Paid applications are currently available to Android Market users only in the
following countries:
Country Users can purchase applications[16]
 Argentina Yes
 Australia Yes
 Austria Yes (ex
 Czech Republic Yes
 Canada Yes
 Belgium Yes
 Brazil Yes
 Denmark Yes
 Finland Yes
 France Yes
 Germany Yes
 Hong Kong Yes
  Hungary No
 India Yes
 Indonesia No
 Ireland Yes
 Israel Yes
 Italy Yes
 Japan Yes
 Mexico Yes
 Netherlands Yes
 New Zealand Yes
 Norway Yes
 Pakistan Yes
 Poland Yes
 Portugal Yes
 Russia Yes
 Singapore Yes
 Sweden Yes
 Switzerland Yes
 Taiwan Yes
 South Korea Yes
 Spain Yes
 United Kingdom Yes
 United States Yes

Availability for developers

Early on, only developers in the U.S. and UK were able to publish priced applications. In an
email to Android Market developers on 2 April 2009, Google wrote: "... we are hard at work
to enable developers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, and Spain to offer priced
applications in the coming weeks. Once merchant support for priced apps are live in these
countries, we will announce our plans for launching support for developers in additional
geographies."

This was partly realized and, for the time being, developers from Austria, France, Germany,
Netherlands, Spain, UK and the U.S. can sell priced applications on the Android Market.[17]

Unlike with the iPhone, there is no requirement that Android applications be acquired from
Android Market. Android applications may be obtained from any source including a
developer's own website or from any of the 3rd party alternatives to Market which exist and
can be installed on Android devices alongside Market.
Banned applications

On 31 March 2009, Google pulled all tethering applications from the Android Market.

Google later restored the applications for Android Market users, except those inside the T-
Mobile USA network:

On Monday, several applications that enable tethering were removed from the Android
Market catalog because they were in violation of T-Mobile's terms of service in the US.
Based on Android's Developer Distribution Agreement (section 7.2), we remove applications
from the Android Market catalog that violate the terms of service of a carrier or
manufacturer. We inadvertently unpublished the applications for all carriers, and today we
have corrected the problem so that all Android Market users outside the T-Mobile US
network will now have access to the applications. We have notified the affected developers.

As of 20 May 2010, PDAnet, Easy Tether and Proxoid were all available in the U.S. market
for T-mobile users.

On 5 April 2011, Google pulled the Grooveshark app from the Android Market due to
unspecified policy violations. However, the app is still available for direct download via
Grooveshark's website, and does not require any special modifications to the Android device
to run.
Implementation details

The applications themselves are self-contained Android Package files. The Android Market
does not install applications itself, rather it asks the phone's PackageManagerService to install
them. The package manager can be seen directly if the user tries to download an APK file
direct to their phone. Applications can be installed to the phone's internal storage, and can
also be installed to the owner's external storage card under certain conditions.
Application security
An example of app permissions in the Android Market.

Android devices can run applications written by third-party developers and distributed
through the Android Market or one of several other application stores. Once they have signed
up, developers can make their applications available immediately, without a lengthy approval
process.

When an application is installed, the Android Market displays all required permissions. The
user can then decide whether to install the application based on those permissions. The user
may decide not to install an application whose permission requirements seem excessive or
unnecessary. A game may need to enable vibration, for example, but should not need to read
messages or access the phonebook.

Possible app permissions include functionality like:

 Accessing the Internet

 Making phone calls
 Sending SMS messages
 Reading and writing to the installed memory card
 Accessing a user's address book data
Security software companies have been developing applications to help ensure the security of
Android devices. SMobile Systems, one such manufacturer, claims that 20% of apps in the
Android Market request permissions that could be used for malicious purposes, and 5% of
apps can make phone calls without the user's intervention. This is not a claim that th apps are
actually malicious, but rather that the potential for malicious activity exists.

In early March 2011, DroidDream, a trojan rootkit exploit, was released to the Android

Market in the form of several free applications that were, in many cases, pirated versions of
existing priced apps. This exploit allowed hackers to steal information such as IMEI and
IMSI numbers, phone model, user ID, and service provider. The exploit also installed
a backdoor that allowed the hackers to download more code to the infected device. These
apps were downloaded more than 50,000 times before Google took action and removed them
from the Market. The exploit only affected devices running versions of AndroidOS earlier
than 2.3 "Gingerbread". In many cases, the only guaranteed method of removing the exploit
from an infected device was to reset it to factory state, although community-developed
solutions for blocking some aspects of the exploit were also created. Google started remotely
removing the malicious apps from infected devices on March 5, and also released its own
app, the "Android Market Security Tool March 2011", which automatically removed the
exploit. This app was automatically installed to all infected devices, and users with infected
devices were notified via e-mail.
Known issues

As of May 2010, a widespread issue has been reported by hundreds of users which inhibits
their ability to download applications from the marketplace. Some user issues are related to
the migration of UK users from googlemail.com addresses to gmail.com, but the majority are
still unresolved, despite a number of suggested fixes. The two most popular questions on
Android technical help relate to the issue, with hundreds of unanswered queries.

Hundreds of users across multiple networks have experienced the market place application
disappearing after updating to Android 2.2. So far, the only solution Google has offered is to
hard reset your phone. However, doing so will delete contacts, text messages and applications
from the phone. One other way that can work is to make sure the Google Chat application on
the device is signed in to your gmail account - and then the Market Place application should
allow downloads (OS 2.2), may be fixed in later versions.[App Inventor for Android

On 12 July 2010 Google announced the availability of App Inventor for Android, a Web-
based visual development environment for novice programmers, based on MIT's Open
Blocks Java library and providing access to Android devices' GPS, accelerometer and
orientation data, phone functions, text messaging, speech-to-text conversion, contact data,
persistent storage, and Web services, initially including Amazon and Twitter.[96] "We could
only have done this because Android’s architecture is so open," said the project director,
MIT's Hal Abelson.[97] Under development for over a year,[98] the block-editing tool has been
taught to non-majors in computer science at Harvard, MIT, Wellesley, and the University of
San Francisco, where Professor David Wolber developed an introductory computer science
course and tutorial book for non-computer science students based on App Inventor for
Android.
The Simple project
The goal of Simple is to bring an easy to learn and use language to the Android
platform. Simple is a BASIC dialect for developing Android applications. It targets
professional and non-professional programmers alike in that it allows programmers to
quickly write Android applications that utilise the Android runtime components.

Similar to Microsoft Visual Basic 6, Simple programs are form definitions (which contain
components) and code (which contains the program logic). The interaction between the
components and the program logic happens through events triggered by the components. The
program logic consists of event handlers which contain code reacting to the events.
Android Developer Challenge
The Android Developer Challenge was a competition for the most innovative application for
Android. Google offered prizes totaling 10 million US dollars, distributed between ADC I
and ADC II. ADC I accepted submissions from 2 January to 14 April 2008. The 50 most
promising entries, announced on 12 May 2008, each received a $25,000 award to funurther
development. It ended in early September with the announcement of ten teams that received
$275,000 each, and ten teams that received $100,000 each. ADC II was announced on 27
May 2009. The first round of the ADC II closed on 6 October 2009. The first-round winners
of ADC II comprising the top 200 applications were announced on 5 November 2009. Voting
for the second round also opened on the same day and ended on November 25. Google
announced the top winners of ADC II on November 30, with SweetDreams, What the
Doodle!? and WaveSecure being nominated the overall winners of the challenge.
Google applications
Google has also participated in the Android Market by offering several applications for its
services. These applications include Google Voice for the Google Voice service, Sky Map for
watching stars, Finance for their finance service, Maps Editor for their MyMaps service,
Places Directory for their Local Search, Google Goggles that searches by image, Gesture
Search for using finger-written letters and numbers to search the contents of the phone,
Google Translate, Google Shopper, Listen for podcasts and My Tracks, a jogging application.

In August 2010, Google launched "Voice Actions for Android," which allows users to search,
write messages, and initiate calls by voice.
Third party applications
With the growing number of Android handsets, there has also been an increased interest by
third party developers to port their applications to the Android operating system.
As of December 2010, the Android Marketplace had over 200,000 applications, with over 1
billion downloads. This is up from 70,000 in July 2010.

Obstacles to development include the fact that Android does not use established Java
standards, i.e. Java SE and ME. This prevents compatibility among Java applications written
for those platforms and those for the Android platform. Android only reuses the Java
language syntax, but does not provide the full-class libraries and APIs bundled with Java SE
or ME. However, there are multiple tools in the market from companies such as Myriad
Group and UpOnTek that provide J2ME to Android conversion services.

Developers have reported that it is difficult to maintain applications on multiple versions of

Android, owing to compatibility issues between versions 1.5 and 1.6, especially the different
resolution ratios in use among various Android phones. Such problems were pointedly
brought into focus as they were encountered during the ADC2 contest. Further, the rapid
growth in the number of Android-based phone models with differing hardware capabilities
also makes it difficult to develop applications that work on all Android-based phones. As of
August 2010, 83% of Android phones run the 2.x versions, and 17% still run the 1.5 and 1.6
versions
Mobile gaming
Android had a huge showing at the 2011 Mobile World Congress in regards
to smartphone gaming, with many well established game developers showcasing Android
games. The trend in mobile gaming on smartphone devices is predicted to shrink the game
specialist device market, affecting devices such as the upcoming Next Generation
Portable. Early 2011, PlayStation announced that they would have some PS games available
on Android powered devices.
Native code
Libraries written in C and other languages can be compiled to ARM native code and installed
using the Android Native Development Kit. Native classes can be called from Java code
running under the Dalvik VM using the System.loadLibrary call, which is part of the standard
Android Java classes.

Complete applications can be compiled and installed using traditional development tools. The
ADB debugger gives a root shell under the Android Emulator which allows native ARM
code to be uploaded and executed. ARM code can be compiled using GCC on a standard
PC. Running native code is complicated by the fact that Android uses a non-standard C
library (libc, known asBionic). The underlying graphics device is available as
a framebuffer at /dev/graphics/fb0. The graphics library that Android uses to arbitrate and
control access to this device is called the Skia Graphics Library (SGL), and it has been
released under an open source license.[129] Skia has backends for both win32 and Unix,
allowing the development of cross-platform applications, and it is the graphics engine
underlying the Google Chrome web browser.
Community-based firmware
There is a community of open-source enthusiasts that build and share Android-based
firmware with a number of customizations and additional features, such as FLAC lossless
audio support and the ability to store downloaded applications on the microSD card.[131] This
usually involves rooting the device. Rooting allows users root access to the operating system,
enabling full control of the phone. In order to use custom firmwares the device's bootloader
must be unlocked. Rooting alone does not allow the flashing of custom firmware. Modified
firmwares allow users of older phones to use applications available only on newer releases.

Those firmware packages are updated frequently, incorporate elements of Android

functionality that haven't yet been officially released within a carrier-sanctioned firmware,
and tend to have fewer limitations. CyanogenMod and VillainROM are two examples of such
firmware.

On 24 September 2009, Google issued a cease and desist letter to the modder Cyanogen,
citing issues with the re-distribution of Google's closed-source applications within the custom
firmware. Even though most of Android OS is open source, phones come packaged with
closed-source Google applications for functionality such as the application store and GPS
navigation. Google has asserted that these applications can only be provided through
approved distribution channels by licensed distributors. Cyanogen has complied with
Google's wishes and is continuing to distribute this mod without the proprietary software. He
has provided a method to back up licensed Google applications during the mod's install
process and restore them when it is complete.
Security

In March 2011, Google pulled 58 malicious apps from the Android Market, but not before the
58 apps were downloaded to around 260,000 devices. These apps were malicious applications
in the Android Market which contained trojans hidden in pirated versions of legitimate apps.
[137]
 The malware (called DroidDream) exploited a bug which was present in versions of
Android older than 2.2.2.[138] Android device manufacturers and carriers work in tandem to
distribute Android based updates and had not uniformly issued patches to their customers for
the DroidDream exploit, leaving users vulnerable. Google said the exploit allowed the apps to
gather device specific information, as well as personal information. The exploit also allowed
the apps to download additional code that could be run on the device. Within days, Google
remotely wiped the apps from infected users and rolled out an update that would negate the
exploits that allowed the apps to view information. They also announced that they would be
resolving the issue to ensure that events like this did not occur again. Security firms such
as AVG and Symantec have released antivirus software for Android devices.

In August 2010, an SMS Trojan called Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a infected a

number of mobile devices, according to security firm Kaspersky Lab. Disguised as a
harmless media player application, the trojan, once installed sends out SMS text messages
without the users knowledge or consent. According to Denis Maslennikov, Senior Malware
Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, there's not an exact number of infected devices available at
present, but the outbreak is currently regional. For now, only Russian Android users can
actually lose money after installing the Trojan, but anyone can be infected. Android users
were advised not to use the Android web browser until Google issues a security patch. The
Android Security Team responded and developed a fix on February 5 and patched Open
Source Android two days later.
Marketing

Android logo

The Android logo was designed with the Droid font family made by Ascender Corporation.

Android Green is the color of the Android Robot that represents the Android operating
system. The print color is PMS 376C and the RGB color value in hexadecimal is #A4C639,
as specified by the Android Brand Guidelines. The custom typeface of Android is called
Norad. It is only used in the text logo.
Market share
Research company Canalys estimated in Q2 2009 that Android had a 2.8% share of
worldwide smartphone shipments.[146] By Q4 2010 this had grown to 33% of the market,
becoming the top-selling smartphone platform. This estimate includes the Tapas and OMS
variants of Android.
In February 2010 ComScore said the Android platform had 9.0% of the U.S. smartphone
market, as measured by current mobile subscribers. This figure was up from an earlier
estimate of 5.2% in November 2009.[147] By the end of Q3 2010 Android's U.S. market share
had grown to 21.4 percent.

In May 2010, Android's first quarter U.S. sales surpassed that of the rival iPhone platform.
According to a report by the NPD group, Android achieved 25% smartphone sales in the US
market, up 8% from the December quarter. In the second quarter, Apple's iOS was up by
11%, indicating that Android is taking market share mainly from RIM, and still has to
compete with heavy consumer demand for new competitor offerings. Furthermore, analysts
pointed to advantages that Android has as a multi-channel, multi-carrier OS, which allowed it
to duplicate the quick success of Microsoft's Windows Mobile.

In early October 2010, Google added 20 countries to its list of approved submitters. By mid-
October, purchasing apps will be available in a total of 32 countries. For a complete list of
countries that are allowed to sell apps and those able to buy them see Android Market.

As of December 2010 Google said over 300,000 Android phones were being activated daily,
[152]
 up from 100,000 per day in May 2010.

In February 2011, during the 2011 Mobile World Congress, Eric Schmidt announced that

Android has reached 350,000 activations per day.
Usage share

Data collected during two weeks ending on May 2, 2011 

Data collected during two weeks ending on May 2, 2011

Platform API level Distribution
Android Honeycomb 3.0 11 0.3%
Android Ice Cream 2.4 11 0.3%
Android Gingerbread 2.3.
10 3.0%
3
Android Gingerbread 2.3 9 1.0%
Android Froyo 2.2.x 8 65.9%
Android Eclair 2.0.x/2.1.x 7 24.5%
Android Donut 1.6 4 3.0%
Android Cupcake 1.5 3 2.3%

Linux compatibility
Android's kernel is derived from Linux but has included architecture changes by Google
outside the typical Linux kernel development cycle. Android does not have a native X
Window System nor does it support the full set of standard GNU libraries, and this makes it
difficult to port existing GNU/Linux applications or libraries to Android. However, support
for the X Window System is possible. Google no longer maintains the code they previously
contributed to the Linux kernel as part of their Android effort, creating a separate version
or fork of Linux This was due to a disagreement about new features Google felt were
necessary (some related to security of mobile applications). The code which is no longer
maintained was deleted in January 2010 from the Linux code base.

Google announced in April 2010 that they will hire two employees to work with the Linux
kernel community.

However, as of January 2011, points of contention still exist between Google and the Linux
kernel team: Google tried to push upstream some Android-specific power management code
in 2009, which is still rejected today.

Furthermore, Greg Kroah-Hartman, the current Linux kernel maintainer for the -stable
branch, said in December 2010 that he was concerned that Google was no longer trying to get
their code changes included in mainstream Linux. Some Google Android developers hinted
that "the Android team was getting fed up with the process," because they were a small team
and had more urgent work to do on Android.

Claimed infringement of copyrights and patents

On 12 August 2010, Oracle, owner of Java since it acquired Sun Microsystems in April 2009,

sued Google over claimed infringement of copyrights and patents. The lawsuit claims that,
"In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-
related intellectual property."

Specifically the patent infringement claim references seven patents including United States
Patent No. 5,966,702, entitled "Method And Apparatus For Preprocessing And Packaging
Class Files," and United States Patent No. 6,910,205, entitled "Interpreting Functions
Utilizing A Hybrid Of Virtual And Native Machine Instructions."[168] It also references United
States Patent No. RE38,104, ("the '104 patent") entitled “Method And Apparatus For
Resolving Data References In Generated Code” authored by James Gosling, best known as
the father of the Java programming language, and currently a Google employee.

In response Google submitted multiple lines of defense, saying that Android did not infringe
on Oracle's patents or copyright, that Oracle's patents were invalid, and several other
defenses. They said that Android is based on Apache Harmony, a clean room implementation
of the Java class libraries, and an independently developed virtual machine called Dalvik.

The Free Software Foundation has called this suit a "clear attack against someone's freedom
to use, share, modify, and redistribute software."[174] However, the FSF also criticized Google,
saying that Google could have avoided the suit by building Android on top of IcedTea,
whose GPL license provides some protection against patents, instead of implementing it
independently under the Apache License. The FSF wrote "It's sad to see that Google
apparently shunned those protections in order to make proprietary software development
easier on Android." and remarked that Google had not taken any clear position or action
against software patents.