Android is an open source operating system used for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. It was developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. Android allows developers to create applications that run on multiple devices by developing for the Android platform. The first commercial version of Android was released in 2008. Key features of Android include a beautiful user interface, connectivity, storage, media support, messaging, web browsing, and multi-touch capabilities. Applications are usually developed in Java using the Android SDK and can be distributed through app stores.