Android Startup Story

The whole world today is obsessed and overwhelmed with one operating system, which has revolutionized the mobile phone market. Today that very technology is the most popular smartphone operating system where the market leadership of over 84%. The OS we are talking about today is none other than android and this is the phenomenal tale of a man who made this revolutionary technology possible. He is Andy Rubin, the man who made android happened to the world and making it the future of mobile technology.

Android Startup Story

Andy Rubin's fascination with gadgets started off from the time when he was a kid, all thanks to his father ran a marketing firm that dealt with the latest electronic gadgets arriving in the market. After graduating from New York's Utica College in Computer Sciences and he briefly ran a computer bulletin board system. He later took a job at CARl ZEISS AG as a robotics engineer from the year 1986 to 1989. He always desired to work for Apple and it was the next on Andy's list of companies to work with. His work experience at Apple played a crucial part, repelling a zeal inside him to invent android later on in the future. Well, an interesting series of events landed him the job at Apple. It all began when, and he was vacationing on Cayman island. He happened to rescue a man named Bill Casper who was in a bad state after a fight with his girlfriend. Bill Casper was working for apple and he returned and his favor by offering him a job. Later, Andy Rubin started his work at Apple as a manufacturing engineer from 1989 to 1992. Andy Rubin eventually left Apple to work for General Magic, a company that spun out of Apple in the early 1990s. This company was credited with creating a personal handheld computer to which many called the precursor to the modern smartphone. Andy Rubin worked at General Magic between 1995 and 1997 until he left to join Web. tv, which eventually was acquired by Microsoft and became Msn. tv. 

After leaving Microsoft in 1999, Andy Rubin started his own company called Danger, which invented the T-mobile sidekick, Andy Rubin did not know it at the time, but this was his first big break, which would eventually lead him to build his next big company. Later in the year 2003, Andy Rubin said, his eyes firmly on building android and began his android journey by creating mobile software. However, things hit a roadblock in 2004 and that is when Andy Rubin made an urgent call to his friend Steve Perlman, Andy Rubin startup  Android was in trouble. Andy Rubin was the kind of a person who did not like asking for money, but the situation was dire as android was out of cash and other investors were not interested. Steve Perlman agreed to wire some funds as soon as possible. He went to the bank and withdrew $10,000 and handed them to Andy Rubin. The next day, he wired over an undisclosed amount of money to provide seed funding for android, with the new cash coming in, Andy Ruben got android back on track. 

Android Startup Story

While many said Andy Rubin's idea for android was crazy. He did find one early supporter and he was none other than the founder of Google Larry Page. The Google co-founder was the company's president of products, when he learned about Andy Rubin's Android project, he asked the google executive to reach out to Andy Rubin and it may have been the most important call of Andy Rubin's life. Google told Andy Rubin that it heard about android and wanted to offer head. Andy Rubin then drove to Google's Mountain View headquarters in the first week of January in 2005, he sat down with Larry Page and his Google co-founder, Sergey Brin. Larry Page wasted no time and praised Andy Rubins previous work, he called the T-Mobile Sidekick one of the first phones he had ever seen. Well, the meeting wasn't all about praising Andy Rubin but Sergey Brin wanted to test him too. He kept pressing Rubin about what he could have done differently to make T-Mobile's sidekick even better and why he chose to create the phone the way today. It wasn't an aggressive conversation but a collaborative exercise in problem-solving. Then Andy Rubin walked out of that meeting. One thing was clear that Google was interested in android, but it wasn't clear why 45 days later when google called Andy Rubin back for a second meeting, Larry Page's intentions became clear this time. All four android co-founders attended the meeting and they even brought a prototype of the software to show google. Georges Harrick was Google Ventures Advisor got straight to the point, he said that Google wanted to buy Android well after doing this, the founders were told android desperately needed funding to keep the company afloat, Andy Rubin and other android Co-founders, Chris White, Nick Sears agreed to the google day, but the fourth founder Rich Miner, who now works at Google Ventures, wanted the company to stay small. Eventually, after the series of meetings, Android accepted Google's offer for a reported $50 million. About six months after their first meeting with Google in January, the Android team moved to the Googleplex on 11th July 2005. Google then came with its beta version of android. 

Android Startup Story

In the year 2007, the first android device was HTC Dream G . Y . and ran on the android version 1.0. This phone featured many interactive features like a web browser, android market app, downloads, WiFi, Bluetooth among others. After a successful launch of the first version of android, Google came up with the second version called Android 1.1. This version was launched in the year 2009 and it was only released for T-Mobile G1 where, when things seemed going well. Android started adding more features to its owns, thereby making it more robust and user-friendly. By the end of the year 2009, Android version 2.0 was launched. This series had enriched features like hotspot support, availability of adobe flash, keyboard languages among others, which was super liked by the users. Later Android went on raising new heights by launching newer versions every year. Today Android powers about 85% of all smartphones globally, which accounts for over 1.5 billion mobile devices. While the iPhone accounts for only 11%, it's also making a push into wristwatches, cars, and TVs. 

Android Startup Story

Well, it's not hard to end, which is a time when android will be in every single device from stove to thermostats to toothbrushes to grab 85% of the smartphone market. Andy Rubin had to be the two most valuable and profitable technology companies of this era and they are Microsoft and apple. He had to fight entranced wireless carriers and had to get phone makers to buy into his radical vision. Well, Andy Ruben didn't do it alone. He got help from investors such as Steve Perlman and big support from google. Today, Andy Rubin is no longer in charge of android and is currently under the supervision of Sundar Pichai and he is currently the CEO of Essential Products, his first company since android and he has also unveiled his new smartphone. He wants to make Essential the first great gadget makers since Apple. One that builds and distributes the open platform, which will 10 power the billions of phones, watches, light bulbs, and toaster ovens that are about to come online. Well with his consistent perseverance and dedication towards his vision, Andy Rubin was able to shape the mobile world's future, which is here to stay for long. 

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