Special: Interesting facts about Google's Android OS

Today November 5th marks the 7th anniversary of Googles Android mobile operating system On this occasion heres a look at some interesting facts and trivia about one of the worlds most popular mobile operating systemsHTC Dream the first commercially available smartphone was released on October 22 2008 which ran on Android OSAndroid is not only the most widely used mobile operating system but also the highest selling OS overallAccording to a recent survey Android devices sell more than Windows iOS and Mac OS X devices combined with sales in 2012 2013 and 2014 close to the installed base of all personal computersThe Google Play store has had over 1 million Android apps published and over 50 billion apps downloaded71 of mobile developers develop for Android revealed a developer survey conducted in AprilndashMay 2013At Google IO 2014 Googles annual developerfocused conference the company revealed that there were over 1 billion active monthly Android users up from 538 million in June 2013Androids open nature has encouraged a large community of developers and enthusiasts to use the opensource code as a foundation for communitydriven projects which add new features for advanced users or bring Android to devices which were officially released running other operating systemsThe operating systems success has made it a target for patent litigation as part of the socalled smartphone wars between technology companiesGoing beyond smartphones and tabletsIn 2011 Google demonstrated AndroidHome a home automation technology which uses Android to control a range of household devices including light switches power sockets and thermostats Prototype light bulbs were announced that could be controlled from an Android phone or tabletOuya a video game console running Android became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns crowdfunding US85m for its development and was later followed by other Androidbased consoles such as Nvidias Project Shield mdash an Android device in a video game controller form factorOn March 18 2014 Google announced Android Wear an Androidbased platform specifically intended for smartwatches and other wearable devices only a developer preview was made publicly available This was followed by the unveiling of two Android Wearndashbased devices the LG G Watch and Moto 360On June 25 2014 at Google IO it was announced Android TV a Smart TV platform is replacing the previously released Google TVOn June 26 2014 Google announced Android Auto for the car