, Columnist
Google’s Android, the Defensive Play That Started a Revolution
Sometimes it’s hard to catch the extraordinary development right in front of you.
Android was behind the smartphone explosion and we may never see a technology like it again.
Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg
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Articles sometimes have a long gestation. One that I published this week had its roots in my disagreement with a three-year-old podcast.
In this 2016 episode of the Acquired podcast, David Rosenthal and Ben Gilbert assessed Google’s 2005 acquisition of the startup behind the Android operating system for smartphones. Rosenthal and Gilbert had a sensible view that Android was a powerful defensive shield that prevented Apple Inc. from standing between many smartphone users and Google apps and services.