Android is a popular mobile operating system that is based on a modified version of Linux. Another benefit is being open source, which gives developers and enthusiasts the opportunity to create custom applications and modifications on Android. Being Linux-based has many benefits, such as running various Linux-based tools and utilities.
At that time, there were many competitors in the market, some of these were Hewlett-Packard (HP) who used the WebOS operating system on their devices, Apple’s iOS, Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, Blackberry’s Research in Motion (RIM) operating system and Symbian OS which was used on some first generation phone manufacturers such as Nokia.