Unless you spent the last few years living in a cave, you have heard about the rising popularity of iOS devices (iPhone and iPad). You may also have heard about the rising popularity of Android devices.
In case you don’t know, Android is a Linux based operating system developed by Google and it is an operating system for mobile devices (mobile phones and tablets).
If you follow what’s going on in the world of technology, you may have heard about Apple claiming that Google’s Android is a rip-off of Apple’s iOS. Here’s something that comes from Steve Job’s biographer – Walter Isaacson. Quote:
” Steve Jobs claimed that Android was a rip-off of Apple’s iOS and that he will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong, to destroy Android. “
Interesting enough, because Apple claim that Android “borrowed” many of the iOS features, here’s something about Android:
- according to Eric Schmidt from Google, Android project started before iPhone, which is true because Android project started back in 2003, long time before iPhone;
- some features of the last two major iOS releases, iOS 4 and iOS 5, are inspired from Android’s design choices;
- over the air updates: Android OS had this feature from day one;
- iOS’s new messaging application called iMessage is clearly inspired from BlackBerry Messenger application;
It is fair to say that Google also was inspired by some Apple features and used them in Android, but that’s what software companies do. But what Apple are trying to do here, is sue everyone they can. Maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong, I’m not here to judge. But maybe, they could work on enhancing their software or hardware instead of spending money and time fighting other companies?
Especially because Android’s popularity is on the rise all the time. Google has already activated more than 100 million devices! (April 2011), so it’s more now. To add to Android’s popularity, it is supported by 36 OEM’s and 450,000 developers from all over the world. Pretty impressive, isn’t it? Also, the Android market now has more than 200,000 applications (370,000 applications as of November).
