Android 1.0 Arrives

Android 1.0 reached consumers in October 2008 with the T-Mobile G1, manufactured by HTC. The software already contained many ideas that would remain central to Android: a notification system, home-screen widgets, deep Google-service integration, and an application marketplace.

Applications ran in separate Linux processes and used Android’s permission model to request access to capabilities such as networking, contacts, or location. Developers wrote mainly in Java, while the Dalvik virtual machine executed a bytecode format designed for devices with limited memory.

The first release was rough compared with later Android versions, but its architecture made the platform flexible. Hardware makers could customize the system, carriers could add services, and developers could distribute applications independently of the device manufacturer. That flexibility helped Android spread across a huge range of phones, tablets, TVs, and embedded devices.