- Prior to Google’s arrival, Android was a startup offering an open source phone operating system.
- Android’s plan was to allow wireless carriers to differentiate their phones with its software.
- Google paid $ 50 million for Android in 2005 and then turned it into the best smartphone operating system.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
In 2003, a small startup called Android Inc. was struggling to make a splash. The team failed to win over investors with their idea for a camera operating system. So the team turned to a booming market: multifunction phones and what came after.
Android has devised a plan for an open source operating system that it could offer free to handset makers. The company believed it could convince wireless carriers to order phones running Android software, which could be branded or changed according to the operators’ wishes. To make money, Android planned to sell Internet-based software services to carriers.
The idea sounded ludicrous to a lot of people, largely because carriers were running the phone market and were unlikely to cede control, but Android didn’t need a lot of time to win over naysayers. In January 2005, Google co-founder Larry Page knocked on the door and six months later Google bought Android for $ 50 million.
Insider obtained a copy of the original pitch deck Android used for its phone operating system idea, revealing a detailed strategy for taking on the then-reigning giants of the emerging smartphone market, Microsoft and Symbian.
According to data from PitchBook, Android raised $ 310,000 in an initial venture capital round just before the Google acquisition. Since then, Google has made Android the world’s most popular smartphone operating system with at least three quarters of the global market, according to Strategy Analytics.
Most of the original Android team have since left Google, including former Android manager Andy Rubin. The New York Times revealed he left in 2014 following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. Rubin has denied any wrongdoing.
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