Google Android OS installed on 2 billion active devices

Dave Burke, Google Vice President of Engineering for Android, speaks during the opening keynote address at the Google I/O 2017 Conference at Shoreline Amphitheater. Pics/AFP

Google's Android operating system has reached a milestone by powering 2 billion monthly active devices around the world, the company said. Google's vice president of engineering Dave Burke that Android has "the largest reach of any computing platform of its kind", Xinhua reported on Thursday.

Based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices, Android was first unveiled in 2007. It is now the operating system, namely the software platform that manages hardware and software , including applications, or apps, for more than 80 per cent of the world's smartphones.

With its latest version released in August 2016, Android has been claimed by Google officials to be "across all screens:" watches, cars, television sets, Internet of Things (IoTs) and chromebooks, a class of low-coast laptop computers comprising nearly 60 per cent of laptops sold to K-12 schools in the US.

Promising to make Android "even more useful," Burke announced a beta release of the operation system's newest version, Android O. Its formal release is scheduled for "later this year."

Google also said its voice-powered digital assistant, known as Google Assistant, is available on Apple's iPhones starting immediately, in addition to its availability on more than 100 million devices.