"Android is Google's operating system for mobile devices based on ARM architecture. It is a competitor to the Symbian platform, Apple's iOS for the iPhone and Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Windows Phone for mobile devices all based on ARM architecture.

Technologically, Android includes middleware and key applications, and uses a modified version of the Linux kernel.[ It was initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, and lately by the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in the Java language, controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries.["

Source: Wikipedia, "Android_(operating_system)", available under the CC-BY-SA License.