However most Android devices ship with additional proprietary software pre-installed, most notably Google Mobile Services (GMS) which includes core apps such as Google Chrome, the digital distribution platform Google Play and associated Google Play Services development platform.Ībout 70 percent of Android smartphones run Google's ecosystem some with vendor-customized user interface and software suite, such as TouchWiz and later One UI by Samsung, and HTC Sense. It is free and open-source software its source code is known as Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is primarily licensed under the Apache License. It was unveiled in November 2007, with the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in September 2008. Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance and commercially sponsored by Google. GNU GPL v2 for the Linux kernel modifications Īndroid is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
