This weekend marks 15 years since the first Android, when Google, HTC and T-Mobile They announced the HTC Dream mobile phone at a big event in New York. Called the T-Mobile G1 in the United States and parts of Europe, the terminal was available a month later to usher in a new era of global computing and kick off a decade-long media and court battle with Apple.

The period leading up to the launch of the first Google operating system device generated a lot of excitement. Although this may seem unbelievable now with the large number of smartphones available, just fifteen years ago very few consumers had access to a smartphone. The Apple iPhone had only been on the market for a year, and the HTC Dream promised to be “iphone killer” which would bring smart mobility to the general public.

Background

The beginning of the 21st century confirmed Nokia as the first manufacturer of mobile phones. With the permission of Motorola and BlackBerry (RIM), which focused more on the professional sector, the Finnish company dominated the consumer mobile phone market. However, they were still “dumb” mobile phones, even though the arrival of 3G in 2001 gave way to higher data rates and capacities that enabled the arrival of new services.

Big changes were coming to the mobile industry and a new era began on January 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone. After taking the music industry by storm with the iPod, Apple is at it again. The terminal not only completely revolutionized the telecommunications industry, but also the computer industry, ushering in the current era of mobility.

At that time, Google was already planning to become a major player in the new mobile industry. In 2005, it acquired Android from a small but promising company, Android Inc., and has partnered with some of the world’s leading manufacturers and carriers. But it has yet to launch its first device. The launch of the iPhone disrupted Google’s plans. Those responsible admitted years later that the original iPhone was light years away from the development of the first Android, which arrived only after the announcement of the HTC Dream in September 2008.

A year earlier, Google took a major step that will change the technology industry as well. And compared to Apple’s proprietary, exclusive and highly closed model, Google introduced Android in November 2007 along with creating Open Handset Alliancea consortium of companies hardware, software and telecommunications, which aimed to promote open standards.

Android was offered to manufacturers free of charge it even allows layers to be implemented as customizable interfaces from different vendors. The opening of an App Store-like app store welcomed thousands of developers and ensured the arrival of third-party apps. Today they number in the millions.

You already know the recent history of mobile phones. Countless companies and products use Android, currently the leading operating system in the smartphone market and also number 1 among the world’s devices in use after it displaced Microsoft’s Windows. Samsung, the most important manufacturer of Android, has long beaten Apple in smartphone sales and Nokia in the field of mobile phones to become the world’s leading manufacturer.

What was the first Android like?

The HTC Dream (called the T-Mobile G1 in some regions) was introduced on September 23, 2008 at the event in New York, which has become a major global event, as the first device with the Android mobile operating system it deserves. It was available from October 22 for an aggressive price of $179 in the United States marketed by the carrier T-Mobile with a two-year contract, although it was available worldwide.

The Taiwanese company HTC, which was in its prime at the time, was chosen to create the first “Google Phone”. The terminal had a 3.2-inch capacitive multi-touch display and a native resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. The screen can be moved to reveal a QWERTY keyboard which was the main design difference with the Apple iPhone.

Its SoC engine was a Qualcomm MSM7201A (ARM11) running at 528 MHz along with an Adreno 130 graphics card. It had 192 MB of RAM and 256 MB of internal memory expandable with microSD cards. Its battery was replaceable and had 1150 mAh capacity for a weight of 120 grams. Its dimensions, except for the thickness, were similar to those of the iPhone.

It had a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and was up to date in connectivity Wi-Fi and 3G broadband. The installed Android, although primitive, already offered the advantages that we have seen in the fifteen years, a fully customizable home screen and quite a few applications, of course the main ones from Google such as Gmail, Maps, Chrome, Talk, Calendar.. and access to the application store, which would grow exponentially in the following years.

The terminal was a bestseller by the standards of the time. T-Mobile alone sold a million units in the first two years. At the time, Android only had a 6% share of the mobile market, surpassed by iOS/iPhone, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, but its rise was immediate.

More important than the terminal itself and its sale was the opening of the as platform Free and open source software available on AOSP (Android Open Source Project). without license fees, although with certain obligations when installing Google services and applications, it was massively welcomed by the producers. Today, Android is the leading global phone system with an estimated 70% share. It also dominates general computing by surpassing Windows.

android vs. iPhone

“I will destroy Android because it is a stolen product”… It is a verbatim quote that can be read in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. The unhappy co-founder of Apple did not take the launch of the first Android very well and told his colleagues that he was willing spend the $40 billion that Apple had in cash to destroy Google’s system.

Jobs’ anger at Google and its smartphone software is well documented, and the numerous lawsuits that followed against the Internet giant and its partners showed that Jobs was very serious about his accusations of theft. And the story could have been completely different.

Android started as its own company (Android Inc.) in 2003 and was only acquired by Google in 2005. Meanwhile, Apple had great success with other mobile products such as iPods. The iPhone was introduced in January 2007, and at the end of the year Google showed two prototypes, one similar to the final HTC Dream, but the other a carbon copy of the iPhone. Jobs flew into a rage and threatened to destroy the use of Android “every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank”.

To make things even more complicated, Google appointed Eric Schmidt, who was also on Apple’s board, as CEO. “There was such an overlap that it was almost as if Apple and Google were one company,” journalist Steven Levy wrote in his 2011 book. “In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives”. However, things were not so welcoming.

Schmidt left Apple’s board in 2009 due to a potential conflict of interest, prompting a series of lawsuits involving Apple and several Google partners for allegedly infringing patents related to mobile devices. The most notable of Google’s partners was Samsung, which Apple accused of infringing on a number of patents, including those related to basic features like tap-to-zoom and swipe-to-unlock.

These legal battles dragged on for years. Until his fateful death, Steve Jobs assured that “it is a fact that Samsung shamelessly copied our design”. Litigation dragged on until 2018, when both sides signed an out-of-court settlement. At CNET, analyzing these fifteen years of battle, they say that both came out in favor: “Looking at the development of not only the software but also the phones that run it, it seems clear that both sides have continued to borrow ideas from each other.”.

Sure, in tech everyone copies everyone. Features like picture-in-picture, live voicemail, lock screen personalization and live translation came to Android before iOS, while the use of widgets to customize the home screen has long been considered an Android differentiator. This feature has finally arrived on iOS. Likewise, we could list a dozen features and functions of the Apple system that “inspired” similar ones in Android.

Celebrating 15 years of the first Android, it’s unclear who the ultimate winner will be. “We’re at an interesting crossroads for Android”tag CCS Insight analysts. “While its success in terms of volume is undeniable, it is increasingly losing share of the premium smartphone market to Apple.”. Google’s Pixels, whose next generation will be unveiled next week, are some of the best Androids out there, but their sales pale in comparison to what Apple sells. Google, like day one, depends on its ecosystem of partners.