One OS that changed USO (Universal Systems of Operation)!!

If Rip Van Winkle is to awake in 2011, he would be completely flabbergasted to see technological advances the world has made. 

Year 2011, I believe, well and truly belonged to the technology. It wouldn’t be grossly wrong if I say that within technology front the year belonged to an OS (Operating System) which changed USO (Universal Systems of Operation) and is also rapidly moving in a direction to become the UOS (Universal Operating System).

Yes folks, there are no prizes for guessing, it indeed is Android. Not only the exotic and finger licking names viz. Gingerbread, Honeycomb and most recent Ice Cream Sandwich, that caught  the imagination of users, but also the zippier, faster and superior applications and further scalability of the OS kept users hooked.

The speed with Android has brought its newer OS in market is jaw dropping. Figure this:

February 2011	:	The first device featuring 3.0 Honeycomb (tablet oriented OS), the Motorola Xoom tablet, went on sale
May 2011	:	3.1 Honeycomb, which added support for extra input devices, USB host mode for transferring information directly from cameras and other devices, and the Google Movies and Books apps, was released
July 2011	:	3.2 Honeycomb released. This added optimization for a broader range of screen sizes, new "zoom-to-fill" screen compatibility mode, loading media files directly from SD card, and an extended screen support API
October 2011	:	Android announced 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus launched recently is the first smart phone to run on this OS. Would this be the watershed moment for Google, in smartphone history, we will have to wait a little

Android robot is cantering and this blitzkrieg is eating away the other OS faster than the voracious virus. 

With launch of every Android OS, the technology envelope was pushed farther and the applicability to users was enriched, so much so that the predominant player in smart phone market ‘Research In Motion (RIM)’ has been advised by analysts to get rid of Blackberry (is it RIP for Blackberry??), their biggest brand that catapulted them to global market. The very factor that pushed Android to these dizzy heights knocked off Blackberry from the pedestal- the fast, flexible, adaptable Operating System.

According to Gartner’s Q3 global sales figures for smartphones, Android topped out with 50 % market share, double of what it stood a year back.  As of October 2011 there were more than 300,000 apps available for Android, and the estimated number of applications downloaded from the Android Market as of December 2011 exceeded 10 billion. Those are some astounding figures.

Mouth watering names (1.5 Cupcake, 1.6 Donut, 2.1 Eclair, 2.2 Froyo followed by Gingerbread, Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich); fantabulous features & specifications; zillions of applications that have wider reach, applicability and user friendly approach has remained a hallmark of these platforms. 

With just 9 letters ‘licked’ out of possible 26, (As remarked by Randall Sarafa, a Google spokesman, "The obvious thing is that, yeah, the Android platform releases, they go by dessert names and by alphabetical order for the most part.") and with techno-envelope being pushed beyond the thinkable realms already, we are hungry to the extent of being called ravenous and waiting for the newer OS to hit the market.

Bring them on Google; for we are not just ready to gulp them but are also looking to blend with them!!!