Fun Fact: Android was originally made to be run on digital cameras
Android runs on, well, pretty much everything these days, but much of the world will remember that it got its start on smartphones. That began on the T-Mobile G1, as you all know.
But did you know that it wasn’t even originally made for phones? Andy Rubin spilled the beans in an interview at Mobile World Congress, noting that Android was actually meant to be run on digital cameras. The work was being done as early as 2004, he says.
Eventually, some digital cameras did run Android.
It’s an interesting revelation, but as his company correctly predicted, consumer-grade digital cameras were being phased out as the popularity of cameras on smartphones took hold. Of course, smartphone cameras couldn’t hold a candle to digital cameras back then, but they were still good enough for people who desired to eliminate yet another gadget from their tote bags.
Andy Rubin likely couldn’t have predicted that Android would explode into popularity just a few years later, but he did know that offering it as an open source platform free to use by anyone would disrupt the market in some fashion.
“We wanted as many cellphones to use Android as possible. So instead of charging $99, or $59, or $69, to Android, we gave it away for free, because we knew the industry was price sensitive,” he said.
Now, you can find it on TVs, bikes, inside cars, on your wrist, in your clothes, and everywhere in between — even those digital cameras it was originally destined for. Andy Rubin’s contemporary visions may not be quite as successful, but you can’t take this one away from him.