1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio and How Stuff Works and you know what 5 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,319 Speaker 1: hellove all Things deck and I'm recording this episode the 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: week of September ninth, two thousand nineteen. That's the same 7 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: week that Apple held its annual event hyping new iPhones 8 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: and iPads and related technology. So of course I decided 9 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: to be contrary and to do an episode about the 10 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:43,159 Speaker 1: history and evolution of Google Android. This is really going 11 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: to be part one, the first half of Android's existence. 12 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,959 Speaker 1: And you know, Apple can grab the attention of the 13 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: entire tech journalism world for a couple of hours with 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: these annual events. When they hold them, they stream them live. 15 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: People will stop their day lee rituals and watch this stuff. 16 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: And Android continues to be the dominant operating system in 17 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:11,040 Speaker 1: the smartphone world all the while. Estimates very but analysts 18 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: say that Android accounts for somewhere between seventy and eighty 19 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: five of the operating systems on all the mobile devices 20 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: on the market. Now that's a pretty big range five 21 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: and it shows how frustrating it is when you start 22 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: to look at things like market share. It all depends 23 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: upon the analysis firm that does it. So I don't 24 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: know precisely how much Android makes up on the smartphone 25 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: mobile operating system world, but I know that it is 26 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: the majority, far far greater than iOS. Now full disclosure, 27 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: I use a Google Android phone. My current phone as 28 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: of this recording is a Pixel two XL that is 29 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: very much ready to be replaced, but Google has not 30 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: yet made the Pixel for available as I'm according this. 31 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: But I'm not a Google fanboy. While I prefer Android 32 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: to iOS, I am also quite critical about Google. The 33 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: company and the history of Android has some dark stuff 34 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 1: in it, which we will get to in our next 35 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: episode in particular, and also this episode is in no way, 36 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: shape or form sponsored by Google. That's completely independent. Now, 37 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: to understand the origins of Android, it's first helpful to 38 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: think back before either Android or iOS had debuted, so 39 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: back in say the nineties. Back then, most folks, if 40 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: you had a phone a mobile phone, it was a 41 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: regular cell phone and not a smartphone, probably not even 42 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: a feature phone. There were some smartphones that were on 43 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: the market, but nearly all of them aimed at executives 44 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: as sort of the niche market, and there was a 45 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: lot of emphasis on productivity features, you know, things like 46 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: calendars and email. Uh. Some cell phones had a little 47 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: bit of Internet browsing capability, nearly all of it was 48 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: just text based, and there was little opportunity to develop 49 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: apps for phones, largely because of carrier restrictions, handset restrictions, 50 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: and some of the quirks of the various operating systems 51 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: out there. Those operating systems at the time were dominated 52 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: by Windows Mobile symbian and chief of all the productivity smartphones, BlackBerry. Now, 53 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: the story of Android is largely wrapped up in the 54 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: story of Andy Ruben. It's a story that I think 55 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: Google would love to redact parts of, considering the allegations 56 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: against Reuben that relate to sexual misconduct. But let's focus 57 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: on what happened many years ago before we get into 58 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: all of that salaceous material in the second episode. Reuben 59 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: studied computer science at Utica College in New York. He 60 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: graduated in nine six. He worked as a software engineer 61 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: for a company in New York. Then he went over 62 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: to Switzerland for a little bit and worked as an 63 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: engineer there and he met an Apple in eineer named 64 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: Bill Caswell, who then offered him a job at Apple. 65 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: So Ruben accepted that job and he joined Apple as 66 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: a software engineer. In nine he would join a spin 67 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: off that kind of left out of Apple. It was 68 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: called General Magic. General Magic was originally called the Paradigm 69 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: Project when it was still part of Apple, and the 70 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: goal was to develop a small handheld computing device that 71 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: could also serve as a phone. Essentially, he was an 72 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: early attempt to build an Apple smartphone. The idea was 73 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,119 Speaker 1: a good one, but a little bit ahead of its time. 74 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: The company worked on developing products like operating systems and 75 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 1: programming languages, all the stuff that would be necessary to 76 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: make such a device actually work. But General Magic was 77 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: unable to find much success, partly because Apple would end 78 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: up competing against it with the ill fated Newton device, 79 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: and since John's Gully, who was then the CEO of Apple, 80 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: was also on the board for General Magic. A lot 81 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 1: of people at General Magic saw this as as betrayal, 82 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: as Scully looking to see what General Magic was up 83 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: to and then racing to beat them to the punch 84 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: with Apple. General Magic would essentially close up shop in 85 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: two thousand two, and all of its assets were sold 86 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: off by two thousand four. But Reuben wasn't around when 87 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 1: that actually happened. He didn't stick around to see General 88 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,600 Speaker 1: Magic crumble. He had left the company way back in 89 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: and joined a different company, that being web tv, and 90 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: that was founded by a couple of other General Magic employees, 91 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: Steve Hurlman and Phil Goldman. Microsoft would then acquire the 92 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: company in n for the princely sum of four hundred 93 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: twenty five million dollars. Now during his tenure at web tv, 94 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 1: Bruben was listed as the person who registered the dot 95 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: tv top level domain name, which I've find pretty amusing 96 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: because at the time, no one really knew who Ruben was, 97 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 1: or of course the no one knew where he was 98 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 1: going at that point, and the fact that he had 99 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,159 Speaker 1: registered dot tv was something of a shock to the 100 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: government of Tuvalu, is an island nation which expected to 101 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,359 Speaker 1: have dot tv as its country code, you know, like 102 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: dot UK is for the United Kingdom. This caused a 103 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: bit of a dustop, and eventually web tv was stripped 104 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: of ownership of the dot tv domain name and it 105 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: was handed over to ta Valu. The country actually really 106 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 1: depends upon revenues from other entities that are registering second 107 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: level domains from dot TV. That ends up being a 108 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: viable source of revenue for the nation. I think it's 109 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: kind of interesting that they are largely dependent, not entirely. 110 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: I don't mean to suggest that they get all their 111 00:06:55,200 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: revenue from people registering dot TV domains, but it provides 112 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: a significant amount to their yearly revenue, which I find interesting. 113 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 1: Reubens stuck with Microsoft for another couple of years before 114 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: he left in to co found a new company called Danger, 115 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: and he did that along with Joe Britt and Matt Hershensen. 116 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: This company also focused on developing an operating system and 117 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: some hardware for a sort of proto smartphone. The focus 118 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: was to offload a lot of the storage needs for 119 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: the phone onto company servers. So, in other words, this 120 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: was an early example of cloud storage, at least early 121 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: in terms of consumers using a device that actually relied 122 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: on cloud storage. So instead of worrying about filling up 123 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: the small amount of memory space you might have on 124 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: such a piece of hardware, all your stuff would be 125 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: stored in the cloud, so you could have a lot 126 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: more images than you would be able to store on 127 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: say a handheld device. The company built out a phone 128 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: that had a screen that would swivel and rotate up 129 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: to reveal a physical keyboard underneath it. So when the 130 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: screen was in place, like it when it was folded down, essentially, 131 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: then it looked like a smartphone with a touch screen interface. 132 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: But then you would push the screen just a little 133 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: bit on one side, it would swivel and rotate and 134 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: snap out, and then you would have the keyboard revealed underneath. 135 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 1: And this would end up really setting this device apart. 136 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: It was called the hip Top when it was under Danger, 137 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:37,679 Speaker 1: and it really set the Hiptop apart from other phones 138 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: on the market, which were mostly in either flip phone 139 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: or a candy bar phone form factors, canny Bar being 140 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,079 Speaker 1: that solid little brick of a phone. T Mobile would 141 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,520 Speaker 1: partner with Danger and then rebrand the hip Top as 142 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: the phone called the Sidekick. It's an incredibly popular phone 143 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,040 Speaker 1: of its time, and it really caught on with a 144 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: younger demographic. It was very popular because it was great 145 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: for texting, which was starting to become a dominant means 146 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: of communication at the time. One of the really innovative 147 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:16,319 Speaker 1: things about the hip Top slash Sidekick wasn't technological at all. 148 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: It was the business model. Danger was banking on the 149 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: phone's services as the revenue generator for the company, rather 150 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: than selling the hardware for a profit. So companies like 151 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 1: Apple were known for selling devices with high profit margins, 152 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,439 Speaker 1: so they were selling the products for much more than 153 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:37,719 Speaker 1: it costs to make them. A lot of people talk 154 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:41,839 Speaker 1: about Apple products commanding a premium price that you might 155 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 1: look at an Apple product and you're paying two dollars 156 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: for the name Apple on top of whatever the device 157 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: is worth. Uh, that's being a bit dramatic, but Apple 158 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: is known for having pretty big profit margins on it's 159 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:00,680 Speaker 1: on its various products. Danger was going a different route. 160 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: They were aiming to sell the hip top at a 161 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: price that was really close to what it cost to 162 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: make the darned things in the first place, so essentially 163 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:11,000 Speaker 1: selling it for almost the same amount of money that 164 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 1: it costs to manufacture them. Danger would instead focus on 165 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:18,319 Speaker 1: making money by sharing service revenues with T Mobile, so 166 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:21,200 Speaker 1: this was more of a long tail approach to generating revenue. 167 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: The idea being will make money off people using this 168 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: device rather than people buying the device. The hip Top 169 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: had some basic Internet features built into it, including a 170 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: simple browser, and that simple browser happened to have Google 171 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 1: set as the default web search engine, which endeared the 172 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: hip Top too. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, 173 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: both of whom were often seen using Sidekicks for quite 174 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,199 Speaker 1: some time. The hip Top debuted in two thousand two, 175 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: and the following year, Reuben would leave the company to 176 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,080 Speaker 1: co found yet another company. This one would focus on 177 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 1: building out a robust operating system for a true smartphone. 178 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: This company was called Android. Danger, by the way, would 179 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: later get acquired by Microsoft long after Reuben had already 180 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 1: left the company, and there was an incident in two 181 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:16,959 Speaker 1: thousand nine in which Microsoft lost all of that stored 182 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: data for Sidekick users. The servers that had all that 183 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:25,680 Speaker 1: data failed and it was all gone. So unless you 184 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: were one of the users who had paid for a 185 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 1: specific app that lets you store local backups of some 186 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 1: but not all, of your Sidekick data, you lost all 187 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: that stuff. This would become sort of a message of 188 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: warning that cloud storage is not always full proof. So 189 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,040 Speaker 1: sometimes people point to that and say, yeah, do you 190 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: remember Sidekick. Just because you store in the cloud doesn't 191 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: mean it's going to be safe forever, which is true. 192 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:52,319 Speaker 1: But the same thing is also true if you save 193 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 1: stuff locally, stuff can happen to local drives too. It's 194 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: just that you feel like you have more control when 195 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: it's in your session. So I think for some people 196 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:07,720 Speaker 1: it's more about the sense of surrendering control than anything else. Anyway, 197 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,079 Speaker 1: let's get back to Android. Rubens co founders at Android 198 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:15,200 Speaker 1: where Chris White, Nick Sears, and Rich Minor. Although you 199 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: almost always only hear about Ruben when it comes to 200 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:22,079 Speaker 1: the founding of Android, they had a pretty prescient view 201 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: of what a smart device should entail. They thought of 202 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:30,319 Speaker 1: creating a device that would use location based services that 203 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:33,880 Speaker 1: would tie your experience of using the device into what 204 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,720 Speaker 1: was going on in the world around you, so sort 205 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: of a geo tagging geolocation integration with the use of 206 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: the device, and that the device itself would learn more 207 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: about what you preferred as you used it, so the 208 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: more you used it, the more it would tailor itself 209 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: to the way you used it. It would become sympatica 210 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: with you. So it sounded like the goal was to 211 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: make a device that would get a deeper understanding of 212 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,319 Speaker 1: the person using it and then adjust its performance accordingly, 213 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 1: which was the stuff of science fiction back in two 214 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 1: thousand three, no one really was convinced that you could 215 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,000 Speaker 1: actually do such a thing. Reuben would reveal in the 216 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen speech that originally the team was actually 217 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: thinking not of smartphones, but an operating system that would 218 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: be used for digital cameras. But they also recognized that 219 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 1: digital cameras we're starting to give way to less powerful 220 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: but more pervasive cell phone cameras. You know, people were 221 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: starting to use their cell phones to take pictures of stuff, 222 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 1: and it just was it was evident that, yes, digital 223 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:42,559 Speaker 1: cameras are capable of taking much better photos than cell phones, 224 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: at least the cell phones of the time. But better 225 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: isn't always the most important element. Sometimes convenience is more important, 226 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: and accessibility and multi functional use. And so for that 227 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: reason they decided they would pivot away from creating an 228 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: operating system for digital cameras and instead create one for 229 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: cell phones. And they thus decided to create a mobile 230 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: phone operating system. Now, Reuben's goal was to build out 231 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,199 Speaker 1: a mobile operating system that would be open to any 232 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: and all software developers. He really wanted a rich, robust 233 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 1: environment for apps of all shapes, sizes, and purposes. He 234 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: wanted to take an approach similar to personal computers. He 235 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: didn't want it to be walled off and siloed. He 236 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: wanted it to be a playing ground where lots of 237 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:38,479 Speaker 1: different people could contribute apps to that ecosystem because everybody 238 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: would benefit from that. So Reuben hired a small team 239 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 1: of engineers to start developing the operating system. And he 240 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: had made a pretty decent fortune in his work at 241 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: the various companies he had worked for, so he used 242 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: some of that to fund this fledgling company. Because they 243 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: literally had no product to sell for a couple of years, 244 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: they had no way of generating rem new so he 245 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: largely funded it out of pocket, with you know, some 246 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: investors adding some extra money in here and there. One 247 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: decision he made very early on was to use an 248 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: open source approach to developing the operating system. And I've 249 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: talked a lot about open source, but here's a quick 250 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:21,240 Speaker 1: rundown of the basic philosophy. Essentially, an open source project 251 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 1: is transparent, meaning anyone can look into it and see 252 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: what makes it tick. So in the case of open 253 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: source software, you're talking about having access to the code 254 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 1: to see how the code is constructed and how it 255 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: makes the app do whatever it does, or in this case, 256 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: the operating system. With many open source projects, often you 257 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: are allowed to freely download tweak and then re upload 258 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: code to share with a community. So you could take 259 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 1: the basic code for an operating system and say, you know, 260 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: this is good, but it could use X, Y and 261 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: Z features, and I'm going to build those out and 262 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: incorporate them into the code of this operating system, and 263 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: then I'll upload it as a new version. And that's 264 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 1: a way that you can actually work within the developer 265 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: community of an open source project. So in this way, 266 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: the team of developers expands from whatever in house group 267 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: you happen to have to what amounts to the entire 268 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 1: world becomes your developer community. Anyone can contribute to the code. 269 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,080 Speaker 1: People can add functionality, people can patch vulnerabilities, they can 270 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 1: make offshoot programs, all that sort of stuff. Now I 271 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: should add not every open source project allows for all 272 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: of these things, but the basic philosophy is that a 273 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: community of developers can contribute to a project's progress. When 274 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: it works well, you end up with really rapid innovation 275 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: and evolution, and you aren't dependent upon any one person 276 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: or groups work. Now, when it comes to Android, the 277 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: way this would play out is that you would have 278 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: an internal group of developers who would create the basic 279 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,480 Speaker 1: version of the Android operating system, whatever version that might 280 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: be at that given time. They would finish this completely 281 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: in house, and then only after publishing the operating system 282 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 1: pushing it out to users, would they then make the 283 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:16,400 Speaker 1: code available for others to download and tweak. So this 284 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: was sort of a hybrid approach. You would have an 285 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: in house team developing versions of this operating system, and 286 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: then you would have the release of the open source 287 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: code to the community afterward. So the team got to 288 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: work establishing the foundation for this operating system, and from 289 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:34,280 Speaker 1: two thousand three to two thousand five they began to 290 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 1: design what would be a web connected operating system capable 291 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: of supporting apps. In two thousand five, Android would solicit 292 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: investors for funding with a business plan dependent on this 293 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,200 Speaker 1: mobile OS model. The company got a lot of attention 294 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: in general, but it was Google that would sweep them up. 295 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 1: Google's founders were actually really keen to establish a stronger 296 00:17:56,119 --> 00:18:01,400 Speaker 1: presence in the mobile world. Google's revenue depends upon ads 297 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 1: and typically you know, it's largely a built on the 298 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,399 Speaker 1: search engine service that Google offers. Google's business isn't search, 299 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: Google's business is advertising. So Page and Brin had the 300 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,719 Speaker 1: goal of getting Google's search engine on more phones as 301 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 1: quickly as possible, because already people were starting to get 302 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: the sensation that mobile computing was going to be the 303 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: next big thing, that people were going to start transitioning 304 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,399 Speaker 1: from using laptops and desktops to mobile devices. And this 305 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:35,880 Speaker 1: is still years before smartphones would become a mainstream consumer product. 306 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: People could see the writing on the wall and they said, well, 307 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: if we want to get ahead of this, we want 308 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: to make sure that the Google Search engine is the 309 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: default search engine on as many platforms as possible, because 310 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: that's where we generate our revenue now. On July eleven, 311 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:55,400 Speaker 1: two five, Google acquired Android for an undisclosed but presumably 312 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: princely some The general figure that's bandied about is fifty 313 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 1: million dollars, which isn't bad at all. The acquisition was 314 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: kept pretty quiet at the time. In fact, I found 315 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,159 Speaker 1: a c net piece about the acquisition that was written 316 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:12,439 Speaker 1: in two thousand seven, which was two years after it 317 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,919 Speaker 1: actually had happened. Google was keeping the smartphone project it 318 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,679 Speaker 1: was working on under wraps. Now, while Rubens team was 319 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:23,119 Speaker 1: working on building out the operating system, Google itself was 320 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: searching for a hardware manufacturer to supply the actual physical 321 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: handset that would be the first to host this new 322 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: operating system. Google wasn't gonna build it itself. He needed 323 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: to find a manufacturing partner, so Google selected a company 324 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: out of Taiwan called HTC. And here's a quick note 325 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: about Taiwan. Now, if you listen to my recent episode 326 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: about why Everything is Made in China, you'll remember that 327 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,919 Speaker 1: I mentioned that in nineteen twelve, a government called the 328 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: Republic of China established itself as the new leadership structure 329 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: for what had previously been an imperialist nation. In ninety nine, 330 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: the People's Public of China, which was a different thing. 331 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:04,719 Speaker 1: You had the Republic of China and the People's Republic 332 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,159 Speaker 1: of China. Well, the People's Republic of China was a 333 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:12,159 Speaker 1: communist organization and it still is and rested control of China, 334 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,439 Speaker 1: and many officials with the older government the Republic of 335 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: China would flee to Taiwan. So Taiwan has operated in 336 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 1: a sort of nebulous designation being sort of but not 337 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: really part of China. Uh. The China would argue that 338 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:32,920 Speaker 1: Taiwan is very much part of the country, and if 339 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:36,439 Speaker 1: you don't agree, then China will not work with you 340 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: at all, uh. And that ends up being an issue 341 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: for a lot of other countries. So they all effectively 342 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: agree that Taiwan is part of China. Meanwhile, Taiwan is 343 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: just not so fast there. We really are our own thing. 344 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: It's a complicated issue. So anyway, this Taiwanese company got 345 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,560 Speaker 1: to work building a couple of prototype handsets upon which 346 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,200 Speaker 1: Android would be installed. And I'll have more to say 347 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,400 Speaker 1: about those in just a minute, but first let's take 348 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:13,160 Speaker 1: a quick break. Okay. So HTC had started out as 349 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: a computer manufacturer, that would be the Taiwanese company and question, 350 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: but it had been designing and producing mobile devices since 351 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: the late nine so it wasn't brand new to this. 352 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: It had built a touch screen smartphone in two thousand 353 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: and had built Windows based smartphones in two thousand two. 354 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:33,919 Speaker 1: It also produced p d A s, which are not 355 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: public displays of affection in this case, but rather personal 356 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: digital assistance. It's kind of like a smartphone without the 357 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,120 Speaker 1: phone part, but would end up being Android. That would 358 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: elevate HTC's status in the smartphone arena, at least for 359 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: a time, and it was actually something of a risk 360 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,120 Speaker 1: for HTC. The company had been making Windows mobile based 361 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 1: phones for a while and Microsoft and Google weren't exactly 362 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 1: best buds, so it was possible that if the Android 363 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 1: phone would flop, HTC's involvement might be enough to convince 364 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,800 Speaker 1: Microsoft to take its business elsewhere, and then HTC would 365 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: have backed the wrong horse. Now, the company had two 366 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: basic prototype designs in those early days for the Android phone. 367 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:19,679 Speaker 1: One was code named Sooner, which sported a small color screen, 368 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 1: had a resolution of three two pixels, had a physical 369 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 1: keyboard that was positioned under that screen, and it kind 370 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: of looked like a more boxy version of a typical 371 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,199 Speaker 1: BlackBerry phone. It was all one piece. You had the 372 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,439 Speaker 1: screen on top and the physical keyboard beneath it. The 373 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: other prototype, called Dream was kind of like the old 374 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 1: Sidekick design. The handset screen would slide up to reveal 375 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: a physical keyboard underneath. Now, unlike the Sidekick, the screen 376 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: slid up, it did not pivot and rotate up, but 377 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,920 Speaker 1: it was basically the same concept. Things were progressing at 378 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,960 Speaker 1: Google meanwhile, and then in January two seven, Apple would 379 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:05,800 Speaker 1: upset the well the the Apple cart by unveiling the 380 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:10,399 Speaker 1: upcoming iPhone, and the iPhone design was aesthetically pleasing. It 381 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:14,439 Speaker 1: is showed all the physical keyboard elements entirely put the 382 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 1: keyboard on the screen, though the iPhone still supported a 383 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,919 Speaker 1: few physical buttons. I'm sure to Jobs dismay it wasn't 384 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: the first full touchscreen smartphone, but you'd be forgiven for 385 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: thinking it was. But based on how Steve Jobs was 386 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: promoting it, and it was clearly in a league of 387 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: its own. It was sleek, and the gesture controls like 388 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,360 Speaker 1: swiping or pinch to zoom got a lot of attention, 389 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:42,400 Speaker 1: and some companies like BlackBerry and Microsoft largely dismissed the iPhone, 390 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 1: at least publicly stating it's a fat it's never gonna 391 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 1: take off. But several of the team members at Google 392 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,320 Speaker 1: paid attention and really re evaluated the progress of Android. 393 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: According to Christa Salvo, who worked on the Android team, 394 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 1: the Android OS looked dated in comparison, like it had 395 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:03,280 Speaker 1: come from the nineteen nineties. Until Apple unveiled the iPhone, 396 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:07,880 Speaker 1: Google had been leaning toward the Sooner handset prototype as 397 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,879 Speaker 1: the first piece of hardware to support the Android operating system, 398 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: but the iPhone changed that entirely. It was obvious to 399 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 1: everyone at Google that the Sooner style phone would look 400 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: too stodgy and too dated next to the sexy iPhone, 401 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:23,960 Speaker 1: and so the decision was made to focus on the 402 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: Dream prototype, which was the one that had the sliding 403 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: screen and the physical keyboard. And they also decided that 404 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: they would give the Android operating system a bit of 405 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 1: an overhaul in the process, which would mean launching Android 406 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 1: a little later than they had planned, but the general 407 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:41,400 Speaker 1: feeling was that this would help keep the project from 408 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: being a big flop after Apple's splashy debut. Now, the 409 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 1: iPhone would officially launch later in two thousand seven, while 410 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: Google was still at work on the first Android phone. 411 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:56,200 Speaker 1: In fact, Google didn't really officially acknowledge its phone efforts 412 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: until around November of two thousand seven, which was months 413 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,520 Speaker 1: after the iPhone had launched, let alone been unveiled. The 414 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: company led the effort to establish an organization called the 415 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: Open Handset Alliance, with companies like T Mobile, Motorola, and 416 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 1: Texas Instruments. In that alliance, Google would not be ready 417 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 1: to launch until late two thousand eight, so a year 418 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,080 Speaker 1: after the iPhone had come out. The flagship phone was 419 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,240 Speaker 1: the HTC G One. At least that's what it was called. 420 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: In the United States and other parts of the world, 421 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:32,359 Speaker 1: it was called the HTC Dream. And just take a 422 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,919 Speaker 1: listen to these amazing specs. The phone had a single 423 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 1: core processor that could run at a blistering five hundred 424 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: twenty eight mega hurts. The phone had one two megabytes 425 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:48,120 Speaker 1: of RAM. The display measured a whopping three point two 426 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,920 Speaker 1: inches on the diagonal with a resolution of three hundred 427 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: twenty by four pixels. And yes, I'm being a bit 428 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: cheeky as I celebrate these specifications because we have come 429 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:02,679 Speaker 1: a long way since two thousand. The iconic Android character, 430 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: sometimes called the bug Droid internally, was one of several 431 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:11,040 Speaker 1: designs that were kind of trying to create a mascot 432 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 1: or logo for Android Arena Block, a graphic artist would 433 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,360 Speaker 1: design the logo. She's still with Google today, though now 434 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: she's a product design lead for Google AI and Research. 435 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: The phone launched with Android version one point oh, which 436 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: did not have a code name, neither did its successor, 437 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: Version one point one, but then with the third version 438 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:39,320 Speaker 1: of Android, the third released version, which was confusingly version 439 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: one point five, Google would assign dessert names in alphabetical order, 440 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: so those would become the code names for the operating 441 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 1: system versions. Version one point five would thenceforth be known 442 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 1: as Cupcake, so he skipped over A and B, and 443 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,680 Speaker 1: that did not stand for alpha and beta since they 444 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,880 Speaker 1: were actually real releases of the operating system. They were 445 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: not internal test builds, as an alpha and beta typically 446 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,400 Speaker 1: would be. But the third version would be called Cupcake, 447 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 1: and the naming scheme would continue until the most recent 448 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 1: build of Android OS, which was released on September three, 449 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen. That one is just called Android ten, 450 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: presumably because finding a dessert name that starts with the 451 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 1: letter Q was a little tricky. One thing Android had 452 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:31,400 Speaker 1: over the iPhone operating system, which you know we'd later 453 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:35,639 Speaker 1: call iOS, would be a few capabilities like copy and 454 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: paste and true multitasking. The Android operating system could simultaneously 455 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,919 Speaker 1: run multiple applications, whereas on the iPhone you would have 456 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,560 Speaker 1: to be satisfied with running one application at a time. 457 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: You could switch between apps on an iPhone, but it 458 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,679 Speaker 1: would mean that the apps in the background would not 459 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: be running. They'd essentially be frozen in stasis until activated 460 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,159 Speaker 1: by the user. Again, Google's Android was different, and keep 461 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: in mind that the iPhone didn't include support for third 462 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 1: party apps when it first launched. The g One slash 463 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:12,639 Speaker 1: Dream did. The Android market contained dozens of unique, first 464 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,440 Speaker 1: of a kind Android applications, according to Google, So can 465 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: you imagine that dozens? Again? I'm I'm being cheeky, because 466 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,920 Speaker 1: of course, back in those days it was very slow going. 467 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:29,879 Speaker 1: Google included a browser which predated Chrome, and support for 468 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: Google services like YouTube and Google Maps was native for 469 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:37,040 Speaker 1: the device. The phone had support for three G cellular service, 470 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: something the original iPhone lacked, though, to be fair, the 471 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 1: second generation iPhone, the iPhone three G, would include support 472 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 1: for three G cellular service. That also launched in two 473 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: thousand eight, so it wasn't like Apple was trailing way 474 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: behind Android. It's just that they didn't include it with 475 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: the initial iPhone release. On top of that, Google chose 476 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: to follow an over the air update strategy, which meant 477 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: that operating system updates would get sent out to all 478 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,440 Speaker 1: the handsets out there, at least in theory over cellular 479 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: data rather than as a download that you would save 480 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: to a PC and then you would transfer over to 481 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: the phone via a cable. Apple did it that way 482 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: for a long time. In fact, they would not support 483 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: over the air updates until iOS version five. Now, the 484 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: advantages weren't necessarily evident to the mainstream public, but there 485 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,800 Speaker 1: were a lot of geeks, including me, that felt these 486 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 1: features set Android ahead of the competition. Apple would catch up, 487 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: of course, implementing features in future versions of iOS, but 488 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:43,400 Speaker 1: always seeming like Apple was kind of lagging behind on 489 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:47,640 Speaker 1: certain features, perhaps purposefully to make sure that the implementation 490 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: wouldn't affect the experience that Steve Jobs wanted to create 491 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: with the handset. Google's approach was more you know, lucy 492 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: goosey with that sort of thing. That being said, Apple 493 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: was light years head when it came to graphic design 494 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: and aesthetics. The iPhone's design philosophy extended all the way 495 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: to the icons that you would see on the display. 496 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 1: Google's user interface looked like it had been built by 497 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 1: and four engineers. It worked, but it wasn't, you know, sexy, 498 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 1: and it wasn't quite as intuitive and interface as what 499 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 1: Apple had created. There was a bit of a learning 500 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,760 Speaker 1: curve to Android, which was somewhat smoothed out when handset 501 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: manufacturers began to create what amounted to special skins for 502 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,239 Speaker 1: Android to make them more user friendly. They could do 503 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: that because, again, the operating system was open source, so 504 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:42,560 Speaker 1: handset manufacturers could take that basic version of Android and 505 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,720 Speaker 1: then tweak it a little bit so it might run 506 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:49,160 Speaker 1: a bit better on that particular hardware. The HTCG one 507 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,920 Speaker 1: was my first smartphone. I jumped on the Android bandwagon 508 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: about as early as I could. I had held off 509 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: getting a smartphone for many reasons. I didn't care for 510 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:04,080 Speaker 1: Apple's closed garden approach, and besides, I already used a 511 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 1: lot of Google's services like Gmail and Google Docs, so 512 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 1: I figured going with Android would make the most sense. 513 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 1: These days, I look at all the Google stuff and 514 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,840 Speaker 1: I think, man, that's a company that needs to get 515 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,360 Speaker 1: broken up. But at the time, I was just excited 516 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: to have a phone that would, at least in theory, 517 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 1: work seamlessly with all the services I was already using. 518 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:29,680 Speaker 1: More importantly, Google would take a fundamentally different approach than Apple. 519 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,400 Speaker 1: Over at Apple, the smartphone operating system was a jealously 520 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: guarded property. Only Apple phones could sport iOS if you 521 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: wanted to use that operating system, you had to buy 522 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: a phone from Apple. No one else would be allowed 523 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 1: to create a phone running that operating system. In this way, 524 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,160 Speaker 1: Apple was following the same philosophy it employed with its 525 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: computer systems, apart from that one shaky period when Steve 526 00:31:54,800 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: Jobs wasn't at Apple and the company began to allow macclones. Google, however, 527 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,160 Speaker 1: was going the opposite direction. The open source Android was 528 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 1: available for at least in theory, any manufacturer to use, 529 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 1: so handset manufacturers like Motorola and Samsung began to develop 530 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: their own handsets that would run the operating system. Moreover, 531 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: it wasn't tied to specific carriers, although it took a 532 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,000 Speaker 1: while to get support for all the different carriers. So 533 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,760 Speaker 1: when the iPhone launched in the United States, Apple had 534 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,440 Speaker 1: made an exclusivity deal with A T and T. That 535 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: story could be its own podcast episode, the whole story 536 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:33,920 Speaker 1: behind a T and T and Apple exclusivity in the 537 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: early days of the iPhone. But the point is that 538 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,800 Speaker 1: for a couple of years in the United States, iPhone 539 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: users had no option when it came to service providers. 540 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: It was a T and T or it was nothing. 541 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: Android would have no such restrictions, but this would introduce 542 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: other problems. I'll explain more in a second, but first 543 00:32:53,720 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break. Android Cupcake would provide support 544 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,560 Speaker 1: for on screen keyboards, both from Google and from third parties, 545 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 1: So this is a case where Google had to catch 546 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: up to Apple, which had skipped the physical keyboard step entirely. 547 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,720 Speaker 1: Cupcake also added other features, such as the ability to 548 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,880 Speaker 1: record video using the handsets camera. Android Donut would add 549 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,280 Speaker 1: even more features, including support for c d M A networks, 550 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: which were used by companies like Verizon and Sprint in 551 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: the United States. So c d M A is one 552 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: type of cellular phone technology and then G s M 553 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: was the other one. Uh, you can think of him 554 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: as two branches of cellular technologies. Most of the world 555 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 1: was using g s M, but in the US you 556 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,720 Speaker 1: also had a couple of networks using c d M A, 557 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: and once Donut added that support in and meant that 558 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 1: companies like Verizon and Sprint could actually offer Android phones. 559 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 1: So at that point, Android could theoretically exist on any 560 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:05,360 Speaker 1: compatible hardware on any cellular provider, and that leads into 561 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: the problem I was mentioning earlier. The main problem was fragmentation, 562 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: meaning there were several different active versions of Android out 563 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,320 Speaker 1: on the market at the same time. Some hands that 564 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 1: manufacturers would augment Android with software of their own, so 565 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,960 Speaker 1: that you'd have a slightly different flavor of Android on 566 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:27,080 Speaker 1: Samsung than you might find on Motorola, for example, And 567 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,239 Speaker 1: that's perfectly legit, because, as I mentioned earlier, Android is 568 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,440 Speaker 1: an open source project. Google set up some rules. However, 569 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:36,360 Speaker 1: anyone who wanted to tweak Android would have to submit 570 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:40,479 Speaker 1: it to the Android Compatibility Program that would make sure 571 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,200 Speaker 1: that the build wasn't so different that it would no 572 00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: longer work with key components of the Android ecosystem like 573 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:50,279 Speaker 1: the play Store or the Google Mobile Services. So while 574 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:53,400 Speaker 1: a company like Samsung could release its own version of Android, 575 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 1: it would first have to submit that code to Google 576 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:57,719 Speaker 1: to make sure that could still play nice in the 577 00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:02,680 Speaker 1: Google sphere overall, and carriers didn't necessarily push out Android 578 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,719 Speaker 1: updates to users all at the same time. So you 579 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 1: might have a handset that's technically capable of running the 580 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: latest version of Android, but the carrier you are on 581 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,879 Speaker 1: hasn't distributed the OS update, so you're stuck in an 582 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: older version. Then carriers could also include bloatwear that would 583 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:25,440 Speaker 1: change the nature of Android. This whole fragmentation was a 584 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,799 Speaker 1: point of frustration not just for users but also developers, 585 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: who couldn't be certain that their work would be usable 586 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,320 Speaker 1: by the majority of the Android install base. Developers typically 587 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:37,800 Speaker 1: want to take advantage of the best hardware and operating 588 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,000 Speaker 1: system features that they can, but when there's a lot 589 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,680 Speaker 1: of fragmentation in an operating system, that becomes difficult to do. 590 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:46,960 Speaker 1: This was one of those things that Steve Jobs thought 591 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:50,319 Speaker 1: would spell the end of Android, and while it was 592 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: a point of pain and frustration, it didn't kill the 593 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: operating system. By two thousand nine, Apple was sticking with 594 00:35:57,800 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 1: a T and T in the U S and Google 595 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,280 Speaker 1: was trying to get more carriers to offer Android phones 596 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: on their networks. One big target was Verizon, and Verizon 597 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,239 Speaker 1: was searching for a good alternative to the iPhone because 598 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:11,600 Speaker 1: it still didn't have access to it, so it banked 599 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:17,200 Speaker 1: on an interesting alliance. The parties included Verizon, HTC, Motorola, Google, 600 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:22,799 Speaker 1: and a little company called Lucasfilm. Alright, so the Lucasfilm 601 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,160 Speaker 1: thing is a little bit misleading. The big contribution that 602 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:30,160 Speaker 1: Lucasfilm would make would be to license the name Droid, 603 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:33,520 Speaker 1: which it had trademarked from the Star Wars film franchise, 604 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,400 Speaker 1: and it licensed it to Verizon. Thus, HTC and Motorola 605 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:41,320 Speaker 1: would manufacture handsets running the Android operating system for Verizon, 606 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:46,840 Speaker 1: which then marketed those phones as the brand Droid. In addition, 607 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,879 Speaker 1: the handsets were the first to feature Android version two 608 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:53,360 Speaker 1: point oh otherwise known as a Claire now like the 609 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:57,840 Speaker 1: old HTCG one the Motorola Droid. The original Motorola Droid 610 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: had a slide out physical keyboard, and if you preferred, 611 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,520 Speaker 1: you could use the on screen keyboard, so you had 612 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:07,840 Speaker 1: some options. The phone featured voice recognition technologies like voice Search, 613 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,479 Speaker 1: so you could actually engage the voice search feature, say 614 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,600 Speaker 1: something into the phone and it would search for that 615 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:17,240 Speaker 1: term for you. The Droid also contributed to the death 616 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:20,360 Speaker 1: of another company, and that would be Palm, which was 617 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,319 Speaker 1: famous for its p d A s. Back in the 618 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 1: good old nineties. Palm had created a smartphone running on 619 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:30,040 Speaker 1: web os called the Palm pre and had another version 620 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 1: called the Palm Pre Plus that was supposed to run 621 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,520 Speaker 1: on Verizon's network, but Verizon would largely neglect the Palm 622 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,200 Speaker 1: pre Plus, instead focusing its marketing power on the droid, 623 00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:44,080 Speaker 1: and that helped spell the end for Palm, which would 624 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:46,880 Speaker 1: end up getting acquired and then kind of sort of 625 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,560 Speaker 1: fizzled away and died. Now you could argue that Verizon 626 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:52,759 Speaker 1: got a little bit of come upance for all that, 627 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:57,279 Speaker 1: because in Verizon launched a phone from Microsoft called the 628 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,440 Speaker 1: Kin K I n never remember when I talked about Danger, 629 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,680 Speaker 1: the company that Andy Rubin co founded before he moved 630 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,839 Speaker 1: on to Android. Well, Microsoft had acquired Danger, and then 631 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,200 Speaker 1: several people from that team had worked on the Ken smartphone. 632 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:12,960 Speaker 1: It was meant to be a phone that sort of 633 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,799 Speaker 1: straddled the gap between cell phone and smartphones, sort of 634 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:20,279 Speaker 1: a feature phone with lots of social media type applications 635 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:23,280 Speaker 1: in mind. But the phone was seen as a lackluster effort, 636 00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,400 Speaker 1: and Verizon would end up discontinuing the sales of the 637 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,319 Speaker 1: Kin about a month and a half after launching it, 638 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 1: and it was a bust. Now the Droid wasn't a bust. 639 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,360 Speaker 1: It would become the most popular Android phone in the 640 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:40,400 Speaker 1: United States at that time and would help drive Android's success, 641 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:43,560 Speaker 1: which reached a level in which the OS became the 642 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:47,440 Speaker 1: dominant operating system in the smartphone market. Google began to 643 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:51,680 Speaker 1: outpace Apple starting in two thousand eleven, with Android available 644 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,720 Speaker 1: on more phones than Apple's iOS, and it would increase 645 00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:58,680 Speaker 1: year over year until it reaches the crazy levels it's 646 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,880 Speaker 1: at today now. However, it's very important to note that 647 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:05,319 Speaker 1: comparing iOS market share to Android market share is a 648 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:10,880 Speaker 1: little bit like comparing apples to oranges. So many Apple puns. Well, 649 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,520 Speaker 1: what I mean by that is that Apple has consistently 650 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:18,760 Speaker 1: taken aim at the high end market for its phones. 651 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:23,920 Speaker 1: The premium cost for Apple phones drives profits. Google's Android 652 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:28,240 Speaker 1: is available across a wide range of smartphones and price points. 653 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:32,480 Speaker 1: Google is not consume concerned about selling expensive phones because 654 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: Google doesn't sell very many phones at all. It mostly 655 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:38,440 Speaker 1: just makes the operating system available. It's more concerned with 656 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,719 Speaker 1: getting the operating system out there as much as it 657 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:45,160 Speaker 1: possibly can. And remember, most of those phones are not 658 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,839 Speaker 1: coming from Google. The company doesn't really care about how 659 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:53,440 Speaker 1: expensive any of those handsets are, so Google continues to 660 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,920 Speaker 1: make money off the services it provides. So, just like 661 00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:59,400 Speaker 1: in the world of desktops and laptops, the real product 662 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:03,759 Speaker 1: Google selling isn't phones or even operating systems. It's the 663 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: data of users. People like me and you, especially people 664 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,800 Speaker 1: who use Android phones. People like me. We're generating so 665 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:15,200 Speaker 1: much data that can then be profited from in various ways. 666 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 1: And yes, that is not something I am particularly happy about. 667 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:24,640 Speaker 1: Sometimes we trade uh convenience, you know, well, we'll get 668 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:27,560 Speaker 1: convenience and we'll trade off some security and privacy and 669 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:29,719 Speaker 1: things like that, and then later on we wonder if 670 00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:31,919 Speaker 1: we made the right choice and then think we've gone 671 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:34,560 Speaker 1: too far. But now we're going down my psyche. Let's 672 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,040 Speaker 1: get back to Android. Backtracking a little bit. Google unveiled 673 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:42,120 Speaker 1: a flagship phone on January. It was the Nexus one phone, 674 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,520 Speaker 1: which was manufactured by HTC, just like the g One 675 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,480 Speaker 1: had been, and it sported the Google logo on the 676 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:51,239 Speaker 1: phone itself. The Nexus was closer and designed to the 677 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,719 Speaker 1: iPhone compared with other Android phones on the market, including 678 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,560 Speaker 1: the Droid. It had a one giga Hurts processor, It 679 00:40:57,600 --> 00:40:59,960 Speaker 1: had an m o led display with a hundred by 680 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: four a d resolution, had five twelve megabytes of storage, 681 00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,120 Speaker 1: and uh five megapixel camera. This is back in the 682 00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:12,080 Speaker 1: days when smartphone cameras still were just okay. This phone 683 00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:16,240 Speaker 1: also would feature a pure Android build when no manufacturer 684 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:20,080 Speaker 1: or carrier add ons, bloatware or anything like that. It 685 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,680 Speaker 1: was meant to be as pure a version of Android 686 00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: as you could possibly find, so obviously I needed to 687 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 1: get one of these phones, and I did. Now that's 688 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:30,759 Speaker 1: not to say that the launch of the Nexus one 689 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,160 Speaker 1: was without its problems. For one thing, Google and HTC 690 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:37,400 Speaker 1: apparently never worked out which party would actually be responsible 691 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:40,840 Speaker 1: for providing customer support, so when something went wrong with 692 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,839 Speaker 1: a person's Nexus one, there wasn't really anyone to turn 693 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:48,759 Speaker 1: to for help. Now Google would eventually address this and 694 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:52,400 Speaker 1: create a customer support department, but the lack of support 695 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,959 Speaker 1: on launch was a bit of a misstep, and that's 696 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,160 Speaker 1: putting it lightly. It was actually a really big problem. Now, 697 00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: rather than cover all the minnutia of Android over the 698 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,000 Speaker 1: next few years, I figured it'd be good to skip 699 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,719 Speaker 1: ahead a little bit. So Android's user interface was still 700 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:14,000 Speaker 1: a bit of a dated and clunky experience. To address that, 701 00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 1: Google would hire Matthias Duarte. Duarte had previously worked for 702 00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:22,400 Speaker 1: Ruben's old company Danger, then he went to work for 703 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:25,680 Speaker 1: Palm in the development of web os. That was largely 704 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:29,280 Speaker 1: part of his work, and he would end up working 705 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:32,040 Speaker 1: with a team to overhaul the look and feel of 706 00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:36,120 Speaker 1: androids user interface. He would become essentially the Director of 707 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:41,040 Speaker 1: User Experience at Google, though his title would get juggled 708 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:45,759 Speaker 1: around in various ways in different interviews. Duarte came in 709 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,040 Speaker 1: just as Google was preparing to push out the Gingerbread 710 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:52,960 Speaker 1: update to Android that was version two point three. Now. 711 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:56,320 Speaker 1: According to an interview he gave to Engadget at CS, 712 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:00,200 Speaker 1: he really didn't have time to have a big impact 713 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:03,680 Speaker 1: on the operating system for Gingerbread. He did get involved 714 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,680 Speaker 1: in a conversation around the idea of parrying the OS 715 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,080 Speaker 1: with a specific phone, which would end up being the 716 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:12,719 Speaker 1: Nexus S. That was a phone that was produced by Samsung, 717 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:16,920 Speaker 1: but Duarte would have more of an influence on Honeycomb 718 00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:22,400 Speaker 1: or Android version three. This was a peculiar version of Android. 719 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,880 Speaker 1: It was meant specifically for tablets, not for smartphones, so 720 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,800 Speaker 1: it was never released for smartphones. It was only released 721 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:33,320 Speaker 1: for Android based tablets. Unfortunately, this would also be a 722 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:37,160 Speaker 1: version of Android that essentially fizzled out. It sported a 723 00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:41,520 Speaker 1: so called holographic user interface and was the Android OS 724 00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:46,560 Speaker 1: featured on the Motorola Zoom spelled x O O. M 725 00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: Apple had once again set the conversation by introducing the 726 00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:52,799 Speaker 1: iPad tablet and succeeding where no one else had in 727 00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:56,120 Speaker 1: the consumer space. The Zoom and Honeycomb were supposed to 728 00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:58,879 Speaker 1: be Google's answer to that, but it wasn't a very 729 00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:02,280 Speaker 1: good answer or Early reviews criticized the lack of apps 730 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,920 Speaker 1: optimized for Honeycomb, and this was made worse because Google 731 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:08,719 Speaker 1: had not released the code for Honeycomb the way it 732 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:11,719 Speaker 1: had for previous versions of the Android operating system, and 733 00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,640 Speaker 1: for the most part, Android Tablets and Honeycomb were seen 734 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:17,799 Speaker 1: as a misfire. Now that being said, some of the 735 00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:21,440 Speaker 1: design elements from Honeycomb were also in the next Android 736 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:25,480 Speaker 1: operating system for smartphones. That one was called ice Cream 737 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:29,040 Speaker 1: Sandwich or Android four point oh. Where hunting Comb and 738 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:32,840 Speaker 1: the tablets fell short, ice Cream Sandwich seemed to succeed. 739 00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:37,160 Speaker 1: Critics overall liked the updated appearance of the UI. Duard 740 00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:40,400 Speaker 1: was heavily involved in the design and implementation of Android 741 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:43,319 Speaker 1: four point oh, and his work was receiving praise from 742 00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:46,759 Speaker 1: critics and users. While Android had already proven itself to 743 00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:49,920 Speaker 1: be a popular platform for smartphones, it was ice Cream 744 00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:54,040 Speaker 1: Sandwich that helped establish a cohesive feel for the operating system. 745 00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:56,520 Speaker 1: And the user interface. You know, you can look at 746 00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:59,080 Speaker 1: the iPhone U I and you could say I get it. 747 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,920 Speaker 1: I get the esthetic, I get how it all connects together. 748 00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:05,239 Speaker 1: I get what the overall vision is. The same was 749 00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:09,120 Speaker 1: not true for early Android phones, so this marked a 750 00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:12,440 Speaker 1: change where you could actually say, oh, I see where 751 00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:16,680 Speaker 1: the aesthetic is. I see where the design components are 752 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:20,799 Speaker 1: with Android. Now, in our next episode, we will continue 753 00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:24,920 Speaker 1: the story of Android's evolution leading up to present day. 754 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:31,279 Speaker 1: We'll talk about more about rubens uh controversies, which are 755 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:36,720 Speaker 1: truly terrible allegations that are are against him, really awful stuff. 756 00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:39,400 Speaker 1: So I'm kind of glad I saved that for the 757 00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:41,359 Speaker 1: next episode so I don't have to go into it 758 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:44,880 Speaker 1: right now, But it does mean that Friday's recording is 759 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:49,840 Speaker 1: going to be a doozy anyway. We're gonna conclude Android's 760 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:53,760 Speaker 1: evolution in the next episode, at least so far. Obviously, 761 00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:58,040 Speaker 1: the operating system is still very much alive and well today. 762 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:01,680 Speaker 1: And if you guys have any suggestions for future topics 763 00:46:01,719 --> 00:46:03,600 Speaker 1: for tech Stuff, you can reach out to me the 764 00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:06,920 Speaker 1: email addresses tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, 765 00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:09,160 Speaker 1: or you can drop me a line by popping over 766 00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:13,000 Speaker 1: to the social media networks that I happen to frequent, 767 00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:16,920 Speaker 1: being Facebook and Twitter. It's tech stuff HSW For both 768 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:20,400 Speaker 1: of those. You can go to tech stuff podcast dot 769 00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:22,440 Speaker 1: com to go to our website, where we have an 770 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:25,000 Speaker 1: archive of all of our past episodes. Every single one 771 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:27,840 Speaker 1: that's ever published is there. You can also find a 772 00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 1: link to our online store, where every purchase you make 773 00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:32,400 Speaker 1: goes to help the show, and we greatly appreciate it, 774 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:40,680 Speaker 1: and I will talk to you again really soon. Text 775 00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:43,360 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 776 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:46,320 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 777 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:49,680 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 778 00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:50,680 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.