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People pose for a picture
near a Google sign and Android statue at the tech giant's California Googleplex
in 2016
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The Google Android operating system, the target
of a long-running EU antitrust investigation, powers the vast majority of the
world's smartphones and firmly rules the mobile world.
Android software acts as the brains for mobile
devices, coordinating tasks from phone calls and map directions to games,
Twitter posts, or online searches. Google, the revenue-pumping heart of corporate
parent Alphabet, makes Android available free to device makers, earning money
from ads, content or subscriptions at online services crafted to work smoothly
with the operating system.
According to industry-tracker Gartner, Android
dominated the smartphone market with a share of 85.9 percent last year, to
around 14 percent for Apple's iOS. Some 1.3 billion Android smartphones were sold
last year, compared with approximately 215 million running on iOS and 1.5
million with other operating systems, according to the research firm.
The first version of Android was released a
decade ago.
In a playful way, Google has named Android
iterations after tasty treats including Kit Kat, Marshmallow and Nougat. A fresh
version, Android P, is in beta testing mode and is expected to be given a
yummier moniker before it is officially released.
- Free to tinker -
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Google makes the Android
operating system available free to device makers, but EU authorities claim the
tech giant uses its leverage to induce manufacturers to pre-install other
Google apps
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Android is "open source," meaning that
device makers can use it free of charge and customize it as they wish.
This led to complaints that the world of Android
was "forked," with compatibility of applications inconsistent and
device makers slow or reluctant to push updated versions or security patches to
users.
Apple, in contrast, tightly controls its software
and hardware, so an application that works on one device works on all. Apple
also prides itself on pushing the most up-to-date version of iOS out to mobile
devices.
While Android operating system software is free,
EU authorities claim Google uses its leverage to get mobile device makers to
install its other mobile apps like YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Maps and Translate
to cement its dominant position.
Android is used by a host of mobile device
makers, including South Korea-based Samsung, which is the world's top smartphone
maker in terms of volume.
Before Google shook up the market with Android,
gadget makers paid to license operating systems or relied on their own.
Microsoft took that approach with the operating
system for Windows Phone, before surrendering the market in the face of runaway
success by Android and Apple.
- Pixel -
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Google's Android
operating system, a mascot of which is seen in this 2016 photo, has been the
target of a long-running antitrust investigation by EU authorities
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Google makes its own premium Pixel smartphones,
which showcase the capabilities of Android and are kept up to date with
software improvements. Pixel smartphones account for only a small sliver of the
market.
According to EU investigators, Google has
required device makers to install its search engine and the Google Chrome
browser on phones, and to set Google Search as the default, as a condition for
licensing some Google apps. The California tech giant disputes this, saying
mobile device manufacturers, if they wish, can install applications that
compete with those offered by Google.
For example, Samsung smartphones can come new
with Chrome and another web browsing program built-in, or offer both Google Pay
and Samsung Pay digital wallets for use. Android users are free to patronize online venues
other than the Google Play Store for apps, games, music or other digital
content.
Google does promote its own services as being
optimized for Android, and backed by "cloud" computing capabilities
for backing up data and being able to shift seamlessly between devices such as
smartphones and laptop computers.
Daniel Castro of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank, said Google's strategy tries to "limit fragmentation across Android devices" so as to attract application makers and protect the reputation of the brand.
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