10 years ago, in the summer of 2005, the world found out what Google's next step was: “the mobile world”. The Californian company was quietly acquiring Android, the startup creator of the open source mobile operating system, which as of today counts more than 80% of smartphones all over the world with 1 billion users. The process started in July 2005, but only in August 17 the news leaked out, revealing the new ambitions of the Internet giant.

Android was a startup like many others in California and it was building software for cell phones. Its acquisition for up to $US 50 million (according to rumors and estimations) was "the best deal ever" for Google, as Andy Rubin, one of the top managers of Big G. and co-founder of Android, reportedly admitted a few years later. He joined the Google team right away, working at the operating system up until 2013, when he was replaced by Sundar Pichai, who is now the Google CEO after the creation of the holding company "Alphabet". As of last year, Rubin left Google to create his startup incubator.

The first smartphone running Android was manufactured by HTC and was released in 2008. Android started off with a less than zero portion of spread than the iPhone – launched in 2007 – and it seemed that it was an uneven struggle. Today the operating system has reached almost 80% of the global market, with 1 billion active users, thanks to the wide range of devices and multiple manufacturers that use them.

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