History of Android.

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Initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, and lately by the Open Handset Alliance.

Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies which include Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile.

On 9 December 2008, it was announced that 14 new members would be joining the Android project, including PacketVideo, ARM Holdings, Atheros Communications, Asustek Computer Inc, Garmin Ltd, Softbank, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba Corp, and Vodafone Group Plc.

Android, Inc., was a small startup company based in Palo Alto, California, USA.

Android's co-founders who went to work at Google included Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV).

At Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel which they marketed to handset makers and carriers.

In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony.

Released Version History:

1.1
Released 9 February 2009

1.5 (Code named "Cupcake") Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.27

On 30 April 2009, the official 1.5 (Cupcake) update for Android was released.

1. There were several new features and UI updates included in the 1.5 update:
2. Ability to record and watch videos through camcorder mode
3. Uploading videos to YouTube and pictures to Picasa directly from the phone
4. A new soft-keyboard with text-prediction
5. Bluetooth A2DP and AVRCP support
6. Ability to automatically connect to a Bluetooth headset within a certain distance
7. New widgets and folders that can populate the Home screens
8. Animated screen transitions.

1.6 (Code named "Donut") Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29

On 15 September 2009, the 1.6 (Donut) SDK was released.

Included in the update were:

1. An improved Android Market experience
2. An integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery interface
3. Gallery now enables users to select multiple photos for deletion
4. Updated Voice Search, with faster response and deeper integration with native applications, including the ability to dial contacts
5. Updated search experience to allow searching bookmarks, history, contacts, and the web from the home screen
6. Updated technology support for CDMA/EVDO, 802.1x, VPNs, and a text-to-speech engine
7. Support for WVGA screen resolutions
8. Speed improvements in searching and camera applications
9. Gesture framework and GestureBuilder development tool

2.0/2.1 (Code named "Eclair")Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29

On 26 October 2009 the 2.0 (Eclair) SDK was released.

Among the changes were:

1. Optimized hardware speed
2. Support for more screen sizes and resolutions
3. Revamped UI
4. New Browser UI and HTML5 support
5. New contact lists
6. Better white-black ratio for backgrounds
7. Improved Google Maps 3.1.2
8. Microsoft Exchange support
9. Built in flash support for Camera
10. Digital Zoom
11. MotionEvent class enhanced to track multi-touch events
12. Improved virtual keyboard
13. Bluetooth 2.1
14. Live Wallpapers

2.2 (Code named "Froyo")Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.32

On 20 May 2010 the 2.2 (Froyo) SDK was released.On 28 June 2010 an OTA (over the air) update to

Android 2.2 build number FRF85B commenced to T-mobile customers with a Google Nexus One phone. Changes included:

1. General Android OS speed, memory, and performance optimizations
2. Additional application speed improvements courtesy of JIT implementation
3. Integration of Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine into the Browser application
4. Increased Microsoft Exchange support (security policies, auto-discovery, GAL look-up, calendar synchronization, remote wipe)
5. Improved application launcher with shortcuts to Phone and Browser applications
6. USB tethering and WiFi hotspot functionality
7. Added an option to disable data access over mobile network
8. Updated Market application with batch and automatic update features
9. Quick switching between multiple keyboard languages and their dictionaries
10. Voice dialing and contact sharing over Bluetooth
11. Support for numeric and alphanumeric passwords
12. Support for file upload fields in the Browser application
13. Support for installing applications to the expandable memory
14. Adobe Flash 10.1 support

3.0 (Code named "Gingerbread")Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.33 or 34

Expected scheduled for Q4 launch.

Confirmed new features:

1. Support for WebM video playback
2. Improved copy–paste functionalities

Unconfirmed new features:

1. Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) playback support
2. Android Market music store
3. Media streaming from PC library
4. Revamped UI
5. Support for bigger screens with up to 1366×768 resolution

Courtesy: wikipedia

History of Android.