History The history of Android is interesting and offers some perspective on what the future might hold. These are the key events of the past few years: · In 2005, Google buys Android, Inc. The world thinks a "gPhone" is about to come out. · Everything goes quiet for a while. · In 2007, the Open Handset Alliance is announced. Android is officially open sourced. · In 2008, the Android SDK 1.0 is released. The G1 phone, manufactured by HTC and sold by the wireless carrier T-Mobile USA, follows shortly afterward. · 2009 sees a proliferation of Android-based devices. New versions of the operating system are released: Cupcake (1.5), Donut (1.6), and Eclair (2.0 and 2.1). More than 20 devices run Android. · In 2010, Android is second only to Blackberry as the best-selling smart phone platform. Froyo (Android 2.2) is released and so are more than 60 devices that run it. In 2005, when Google purchased Android, Inc., the world thought Google was about to enter the smart phone market, and there were widespread speculations about a de-