A Brief History Of Android - Part 4: Crossroads

Ice Cream Sandwich. Sweeeet...

In this series so far, we've looked at the modest beginnings of Android through its various iterations, with our last chapter focusing on the explosive growth of the platform in the last year. To the makers of competitive platforms, Android's rise to dominance has been a serious impediment to their own good fortune. And they haven't been shy in roundly criticising Google's effort whenever the opportunity arises either.

Although Android's perceived weaknesses have been the subject of regular negative commentary from the opposition camps, the spectacular performance of the little green robot has continued unabated. So what's going on here? If Android is the disaster that its opponents claim it to be, shouldn't it be failing miserably? Is it failing at all? Let's have a peek after the jump.

A Brief History Of Android Part 3: Rise Of The Robot

Recently Android founder and Google VP Andy Rubin tweeted that Android's growth was a credibility-straining 4.4% week on week. Think about that for a second – it's not just 4.4 times 52, it's compounding. He's talking activations here and those activations are one-off events, tied to the unique hardware serial in every cellphone built.

That's a very big claim, and would seem to suggest that Android will become the Windows of the smartphone world. For those unfamiliar with Windows in PC land, firstly welcome to Earth, and second, Windows has more than 90% of the personal computer marketplace. Huge! So is Android really headed for such domination? Let's take a look.