Depends on who you are making the app for and where you are.That decision depends on your target market/user base.This means toy should research then choose.

Where I am in Kenya, Africa, Android is the dominant market,regardless of the economic class of my target market,since the android OS provides various options depending on purchasing power.

A broad argument about Android vs iOS can be made regardless on location and market and that is barrier to entry and control in the ecosystem.

1. Entry.You need to pay $25 for life to get an android developer account and you can upload as many apps as you can,either wearable,android TV ,tablet or mobile.On iOS you to get and maintain a developer account you pay $99 every single year!
2. Control.Android is a liberal platform with minimal rules but more guidelines especially for design (Material Design). So if google decides to ban your app,your app must be really bad or malicious. The iOS guys rule their platform with an iron fist.If I'm not wrong your app is subject to review before release.This sucks.

P.s one thing against android ,some areas of the world aren't allowed merchant accounts meaning we can't directly deploy paid apps using the google payment platforms so we need other aalternatives.

All the best choosing a platforms.

The problem is not just “making” any OS, the problem really is about making a usable OS, a compatible OS, supporting popular applications with rich functionality, an OS with good hardware support, and then maintaining it over time (years) while attracting both users and developers to it.

These kinds of issues are solved by big companies with teams of thousands of people dedicated to that only, with industry partnerships, lots of negotiations and alignment between players in the market, etc.

One person can of course implement something from scratch that can still technically be called an OS, but it is not going to be particularly useful for anybody else. Or, one person can take some open source OS and slightly modify it, but again, it is not going to be that different from the original, so why would anybody else use it?

Features take time to properly design, plan and implement, even if those features are trivial and easy. Even the best engineers can only do as much alone, you need a decently sized team of motivated people to create virtually anything that is appealing for the users. And what is an appeal of yet another OS? The users don’t care about the OS, they want apps, they need their problems solved by those apps, they need content delivered through those apps, they want to browse the internet, to play games, etc. And it is not easy for the OS to support all that.

There are big community-driven open source projects that started with one person doing something relatively small and cool mostly by themselves, but what usually makes these projects successful is:

• the novelty and “coolness” of the original idea;
• the power of large-scale community collaboration;
• the project management and community management skills of the original team behind the project.

Ask yourself: is yet another OS that cool these days? What will it offer to the users? Will it be that different from the others? How will the hardware support be taken care of? Who will invest the time and resources to maintain it? How can you start a strong community around the project?

If you have the answers to those questions and a concrete plan to address them, then sure, you can start a project like that. Otherwise, treat it as a hobby project to learn systems programming.

If you want your app to be as successful as possible, plan to build it for BOTH Android and iOS eventually. However, start with one platform first to minimise your risk if the app is not successful. You should start with the platform where the app is likely to have the most users. This depends on the app and who the target users are.

Android is a lot more popular than iOS in most countries because Android phones are often cheaper. There’s really only a few countries where iOS is as popular or more popular than Android, such as the US. So if your app is likely to appeal more to people in certain countries, or in a certain demographic, do some research to see what sort of phone your users are most likely to have.

I personally would ignore Quora User, that is the type of defeatist attitude that will get you nowhere.

You can, with a large amount of work get up a fairly decent proof of concept and then get investment to finish the project “Android” is a good option and you may want to start having a look at the inner workings, being open source this should be a good starting point.

Once you have some technical knowledge of mobile OS, have a look at design this is a key to a successful mobile OS.

Thirdly you are not alone! open source projects can be a good way to go, get the community involved, be warned though you need to do a lot of leg work first.

You may have to develop a phone to go with the OS and this may seem like a daunting task, but all the components and documentation is available online and is not as complex as people imagine.

By no means is this a trivial task, but it is not out of reach, do you think people like Steve Jobs, Bill gates, Linus Torvald etc would have accepted “you cannot make a mobile OS from scratch by yourself or even with a small team” please.

And if you choose to take on this task…. Good Luck!

“Apart from Apple, Why do smartphone makers rely heavily on Android and don't create their own custom OS?”

Because it’s immensely expensive to build and maintain a piece of software with the complexity of iOS or Android. Google and Apple benefit from scale - when you have a billion or more devices running your OS it costs much less per device to maintain and evolve the OS than it does if you only have a hundred thousand or even a million. Both companies have huge resources to put into their operating systems, and both still screw up and have glaring bugs quite frequently. A smaller company with fewer resources would have an ever more difficult time managing a piece of software of Android’s complexity.

There’s also a tremendous value to consumers in third party support for the phone - the apps that are available for it. Android and iOS have millions of apps already available for them.

Why would Netflix or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram bother to support another mobile operating system with a minuscule (compared to Android or iOS) user base?

Why would users want to use an OS that didn’t run the apps and services that they wanted when they’re readily available on dozens of phones running Android or iOS?

And if you’re going to suggest that you build an OS that will be binary-compatible with Android or iOS - well first, good luck with that, and second, what’s the point? You’d be so much better off just running Android.

I don't think a beginner can do it.

Coding an operating system can be a painful task for experienced software engineers with decades under their belt.

Your gonna need to know a whole lot of C, or other low level languages. And even if you do code one, it will no way be as advanced as IOS or Android (not to bring you down, they have thousands of people working on them). It'll be a bit simple.

One example I like to look at is Temple OS. It was made by Terry A Davis. It even has its own programming language (Holy C), games and apps. Terry A Davis was an absolute god of a programmer, so he could do it. He had Hella experience under his belt. But even then, the OS was a bit basis, compared to what was available at the time.

There are a few other examples of an operating system being made by people though. However, they are all extremely simple, like Temple OS and no where near the equivalence of windows, IOS, Linux, Android.

So in conclusion you need to have lots and lots of profiency in a low level language, and even then you could probably only make a very simple OS, nothing like Android, IOS, windows, Linux, etc.

It's really a great question indeed. A quick analysis of present day market rulers and taking opinions about missing features in the available options can prove to be a great strategy. As building a new OS from scratch is really a tough challenge, you won't like to take efforts for something that is really not a necessary feature. As you have asked about Android and iOS only, i will write only about smartphones and shall not include feature phone market.

So, let's begin with quick analysis of the present mobile OS scecnario.

• Major mobile OS that are ruling the market:
• Android, by Google.
• iOS, by Apple.
• Mobile OS that were ruling the market but are now lost in the shadows of time:
• Symbian, by Nokia et al.
• Java ME, by Sun Microsystems.
• Mobile OS which are on the verge of extinction:
• Windows Phone, by Microsoft.
• Blackberry OS, by Blackberry.
• The most liked parameters :
• Android : An App for everything, App count has already crossed A billion.
• iOS: Awesome new innovations with new products, the UX and almost all apps.

So if you wish to compete with these two present leaders, build something that has enough apps, enough app developers’ army to create new apps, innovativeness and most importantly, the software should be end user friendly. Because not all users have technical background.

Here's how you might be able to do it;

1. Understand the user demands and find out if there's something that is not available in these two OS.
2. Create an OPEN SOURCE platform so that developers are empowered and free to use their creativity as they like.
3. If you are planning to take on Android, you should understand that you should have a godfather who is willing to take on Google. Just a team of app developers won't suffice, you will need a fully armed army of them.
4. Few months ago Samsung had launched Tizen to take on Android, but alas! The incumbent remained untouched. Study this case and don't commit same mistakes.
5. Most importantly, always remember nothing is impossible so if you think you can beat the legends, you surely will someday.

Rest is upto you. Follow your own guts and keep working on your dream.

Best luck!

As a learning project? Absolutely.

There probably isn’t another project that will expose you to such a wide range of programming challenges — it will have everything from low level hardware, to architecture, to algorithms.

As something that has any chance of becoming a viable commercial product? You might want to reconsider.

I’ve worked as a tiny cog on some of the operating systems that didn’t make it. SymbianOS — once the base for Nokia phones. Highly tweaked to run fast on ARM processors and provide excellent battery life. Applications were written in something that wasn’t quite C++ with an API that looked different from either Linux or Windows. There was a steep learning curve to ramp up a new programmer into this system. It lost out in the phone wars, and now there’s really only Android or iOS left. Before that, and even older was PalmOS — which begat WebOS. Apparently it still runs on some LG TVs.

Operating Systems benefit immensely from the network effect. In mobile phones, even mighty Microsoft found out they had basically missed the boat. Once a choice has been made it will become very, very hard to change.
You need programmers and users to know the system and the interface. Beyond a certain point, there is no more space for another one.

All the big mainstream slots are taken by now — there might be some small niche left.

As a learning project… it’s got everything.

Android and iOS are not Operating Systems alone. They are ‘service providers’ in many senses. They have an attached set of services:

1. Apple/Google Account services that tie tightly into the phone.
2. Email software preinstalled and again, tightly coupled to their backend.
3. Notes, Reminders that sync to their servers.
4. File storage system (iCloud/Google Drive),
5. Contacts and Calendar
6. Browsers with history sync
7. Application stores (AppStore/Play Store)
8. Media Distribution network (iTunes Store, Apple Music/Google Store for books, music)
9. Maps
10. Office Suite (Pages, Keynote, Numbers/Google Docs, Sheets, Slides)

On top of this, they have hundreds of thousands of good apps supporting them. They have a huge lead in terms of number of users who have come to like their platforms since last 8+ years. They are also companies which together cam buy nearly any other company on planet. So they have huge advertising budget.

Making an OS is already hard - you have to take care of at least a hundred very difficult engineering problems (why do you think Apple chose their OS X-based OS which became iOS and Google chose a ready-made kernel named Linux as base?). They have thousands of engineers who are one of the top players of their field working on the problems they face. Even if you are as intelligent as 500 top engineers, they would still be at least 4 times your capacity. Plus, by no means are you going to type, compile, debug, test as much code as 500 engineers. Only sheer intellect is not enough. There is something called as Brute Force which they have in Plenty.

No, if you are a person, you cannot compete with them. It’s out of question.

If you are a mid-size company, you cannot compete - remember Bada, the OS by Samsung? Where did it disappear?

If you are an Open Source Project, you cannot compete - what happened to Tizen?

If you are a multi-billion dollar company, you might still not be able to compete - remember the recently killed Windows Mobile?

No, you cannot compete.

You might hate me for discouraging you but if you are talking about competing, it’s not possible. And hey, I know that because I have tried something similar, though not in OS domain. The biggest hurdle is convincing people to go with you and risk their money and that’s where marketing money comes in which you don’t seem to have right now. Even if you did, I hope you are not like Microsoft which despite having money could not pull it off.

Those are not OSes. They are eco-systems and not beatable at their game (unless there comes a new player with a very radical change).

This question seems deceptively easy but can actually be really hard.

As with most things in life, the answer is really “it depends.”

Because of the diversity of the Android ecosystem, they’ve got more devices on the market, meaning their market share, in absolute numbers, is bigger. More people, in more parts of the world have an Android phone. Whether that phone costs $25 or $2 500, it’s still an Android phone.

Apple’s retail strategy, however, focuses on building high end products and selling them at > $600 a pop. Their retail strategy means that they have less market share in absolute numbers, but it also means that the kinds of people who buy an iPhone are people who a) have $600 to spend on a phone and b) are willing to spend $600 on a phone… meaning they’re willing to spend money on the apps that will make that phone cool as well.

This is not to say that people with Android phones aren’t willing to buy apps - but most developers will be able to attest to the fact that it’s just easier to sell things on the App Store than it is on the Play Store.

If your revenue model is focused around direct sales (and you’re in the US where market share is higher, or China, where market share is growing), you’ll probably be better served making your app on iOS. If you’re revenue model is focused on getting huge volumes of people across a spread of devices and across a broader spread of geographies then you’re probably better off on Android…

Like I said, it depends :/

I was an Apple fan-boy until about a year ago, when, on a lark, I switched to Android. I still do have and use an iPad, though.

That said, I would have to say that Android let's me be much more productive.

First up, Android has USB OTG (on the go) support. This means I can plug flash drives into my phone to share and transfer files. That's a huge plus in my book.

Next, let's say I want to email the Word document I just finished. On Android, it's as easy as being on a desktop computer. In iOS, attaching anything besides a picture is a convoluted pain.

Likewise, I find printing on Android is relatively pain-free. On iOS, if you don't have a printer specifically designed to work with iOS, good luck! .

And let's not forget multi-tasking. Unlike iOS, Android will actually run processes in the background without a "watchdog" killing them off after 5 minutes or so.

Also, since I have a Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, the S-Pen adds a whole new dimension of functionality.

Finally, I can't resist the the opportunity to plug my all-time favorite Android tool... Tasker. You want to quiet down your phone automatically while you're at work and then turn the volume back up when you leave work? Easy! How about automatically open the Lowes app when you walk into a Lowes store? Child's play. Let's say you want to add your own custom voice commands to do whatever you want? Yup, Tasker (combined with AutoVoice) can do that, too.

There is nothing in iOS that even resembles Tasker.

I could go on with more, but you probably already figured out that Android wins the productivity prize, hands-down, in my book.

I think this would depend on what your use case would be. If you’re talking about an OS for a desktop / laptop? There already Windows which does just about everything. MacOS which while it would be nice to have on a Dell XPS or a custom built AMD Ryzen PC, is strictly for Apple hardware. And then there’s Linux which runs on just about anything except for a few elite tech devices, between the three of them, there’s not much reason to “create” a new OS. Unless you’re creating one for a use-case-specific task. (automotive touch-screen computers, touch-screens for ATM’s, food ordering kiosks, gas-pump touch-screens etc.) To try and come up with an OS for PC’s and computers?…would be a long and arduous ordeal simply because “It’s Been Done Already” and if you’re not careful?…you might end up in court because of infringement on something that might reside in Windows or Apple’s software constructions. But…If you have the time, the fortitude and wherewithal? then fine…go ahead and do it! Even if its only used by you…your kid sister, and your aunt?…it will be a learning experience for you for sure! One word of advice?…if you’re gonna do it?…start with LFS (L-inux F-rom S-cratch) it will literally “teach” you EVERYTHING you need to know about building an OS from the ground up!! Good Luck!!!

The founding of Android

In October 2003, well before the term “smartphone” was used by most of the public, and several years before Apple announced its first iPhone and its iOS, the company Android Inc was founded in Palo Alto, California. Its four founders were Rich Miner, Nick Sears, Chris White, and Andy Rubin. At the time of its public founding, Rubin was quoted as saying that Android Inc was going to develop “smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner’s location and preferences.”

While that sounds like the basic description of a smartphone, Rubin revealed in a 2013 speech in Tokyo that Android OS was originally meant to improve the operating systems of digital cameras, as reported by PC World. The company made pitches to investors in 2004 that showed how Android, installed on a camera, would connect wirelessly to a PC. That PC would then connect to an “Android Datacenter,” where camera owners could store their photos online on a cloud server.

Obviously, the team at Android didn’t think at first about creating an OS that would serve as the heart of a complete mobile computing system on its own. But even back then, the market for stand-alone digital cameras was declining, and a few months later, Android Inc decided to shift gears towards using the OS inside mobile phones. As Rubin said “The exact same platform, the exact same operating system we built for cameras, that became Android for cellphones.”

In 2005, the next big chapter in Android’s history was made when the original company was acquired by Google. Rubin and other founding members stayed on to continue to develop the OS under their new owners. The decision was made to use Linux as the basis for the Android OS, and that also meant that Android itself could be offered to third-party mobile phone manufacturers for free. Google and the Android team felt the company could make money offering other services that used the OS, including apps.

Rubin stayed at Google as head of the Android team until 2013, when Google announced he would be leaving that division. In late 2014, Rubin left Google altogether and launched a startup business incubator. Earlier in 2017, Rubin officially revealed his return to the smartphone industry with his company’s announcement of the Android based essential phone.

So Some People are Answering Based on Huawei's new HongMeng OS , so coming to this part , this OS is also based on Android but at its core it's a android open source code which who ever can modify and Bend it to their Liking , Same as Lineage OS (Cyanogen Mod) , what happens is that core google Services are not offered but can be installed using a gapps zip , So Huawei's OS is built upon android , And A Seperate Market Place (Such as Aptoide or Huawei's own Market) Will take the Play Store's Place. Coming to the Question Android Today is the Hard work of developers Since 2004 , so we just can't create a eco system where all the Hardware and Software Work in Harmony , Same Goes with PC , anyone can modify a Linux Distro and Make it Work or Modify to their Own User Experience.

Creating a New OS Altogether is a Pretty Hefty Job !

• First and foremost thing, appeal the developer crowd, as an OS can never be successful in absence of dedicated developers. Try to appeal both open-source as well as closed-source proprietary developers.
• While designing the UI try to strike a balance between functionality and ease of use.
• Analyse the market, try to understand your consumer demographics, and invest in advertising and promotional campaigns to make your OS popular.
• Try to create hype about your OS so as to keep the target consumer interested in it.
• Decide whether you want to use in-house developed hardware or OEM hardware.
• If you decide to go for OEM licensing then try to maintain even updates by striking a balance between hardware variation and standardisation.
• Try to research and develop an in-house programming language which is simple to use or use a simple but lightweight programming language like QT or QML to ensure that the OS remains lightweight.
• Try to balance animations, don’t make them too elongated but at the same time make them aesthetically pleasing.
• Hire proper graphic designers for typesetting and iconography.
• Try to develop a desktop OS too which compliments your mobile phone OS by offering synchronisation via your services offered on them.

First Loss,

1. Your phone may never work, ever.
2. Official support from the device manufacturer straight goes down the drain,
3. You will be surprised to know, how many custom OSes are made by amateur hobbyist. They follow guidelines from experts, and that makes the OS build very unstable.

Now, benefit,

• Want an android phone without Google apps? Sure.
• Want total access to your phone root? Why not?
• Want ad blocker built within your android? Just tap away.
• Latest android for a five-year phone? Maybe possible.

Always try custom ROM on a phone that is either your second phone or you are comfortable enough to replace. You never know what shit might happen. I flashed Cyanogenmod on my first android phone after the manufacturer announced no more Android upgrade. In hindsight, that was a stupid decision, as I didn’t have the money to buy a new phone. In my defense, Cyanogenmod was the king of custom ROM, as the chance of failure was somehow lower.

But, the experience was awesome. Custom camera App, Ad blocker that works within the OS. I would never do this again, but it was a great experience for more than 1 year.

It is completely possible.

The questions you have to ask yourself are:

Can I (do I have the ability required) and

Should I (is this a worthwhile endeavour)

The should must come first and needs to include ethics as well as simple practicalities - what is the purpose of your OS?

If you write your own OS, you will have to handle bits and pieces like integration with all the systems in the computer such as graphics, keyboard, disk and such. This is immensely difficult and it can be the very devil to get it to work with differing hardware. Macs are only more reliable than PCs because there is complete control over the hardware. It’s far easier to create an efficient secure OS that will run only on one set of gear.

If you are going to go to all that trouble, you have to see some benefit. That need only be the pleasure of saying you did it but to go beyond that requires purpose.

That purpose might be to be able to perform specific tasks without the overhead of a more complete or luxurious OS (or perhaps yours will be just more efficient) but in order to achieve significant gains, you will probably need to create very specific drivers to take advantage of hardware. If on the other hand the purpose is to make a specific class of software more efficient to develop then you will need to ensure you provide optimised API calls to permit software to integrate effectively.

Given that you can pretty much create most of that in C++ running on Linux, you might find that the should I becomes an issue.

As to Could I - well, can you?

I'm going to give you my opinion not as a developer, but as a worker.

First of all, fiddle with both codes. See which one you prefer to work with, or works best with your creativity. Remember that you'll work with it thousands of hours. It's easier to think about those hours if you're having fun with it. Another point of knowing both codes is that you'll be able to do the same (or a similar) app for both markets in case you ever need to.

In the end, the choice is yours. Both markets are strong and you'll have work whatever choice you make but, in my opinion, if you enjoy working with it, chances are you're going to be alot better than simply a developer churning out apps.

I don't think you're at a stage yet where you could create an operating system; there's a lot of work that goes into learning how a computer works, first!

A basic operating systems textbook gives a good high-level look at how operating systems are architected and how they solve the problems they solve. I recommend Operating System Concepts by Silberschatz.

Learning assembly programming is also essential not just to creating the OS, but to understanding what a computer is and how a processor operates. Studying these things long enough will help you to answer some questions like "should I use C# to write an operating system" with answers like "of course not; C# is an interpreted language not suitable for systems programming".

It's a long and hard road to learn that much about computers, and most people call it a CS degree! However, it's definitely possible to learn it without university, and textbooks are a great start.

Definitely. All you have to do is give it time in the market. Any product made has a definite cycle, called the product life cycle. So, any OS that is great today will eventually become obsolete and a new OS will take it's place.
Take Nokia and symbian for instance. Nokia was the best mobile brand at one time. Symbian was it's OS and it was really great. Then iPhone came with iOS. This was followed by Samsung. (This is just for example. The chronological order may not be the same.) Slowly, Nokia failed and BlackBerry did too, eventually.
The two of the best brands in the mobile industry were suddenly gone.

So, even if iOS and android are ruling the market, there will come a time when a new OS will take them both down.

It completely depends on several factors, including the complexity of the app you want to develop, experience in developing an app, great knowledge of tools and technologies to develop an app, etc.

So for any business looking to develop Android apps, the first step is to know your app development requirements. Is it better to develop an app yourself or connect with a leading mobile app development company like Quytech for your Android app development?

Each of your options has its pros and cons, let's discuss why you should hire Android app developers versus doing it yourself.

Advantages of Hiring Someone to Develop Your Android App

• Dedicated Developer – One of the key benefits of hiring a developer from a mobile app development company is that they provide dedicated developers to enhance your business. Each and every developer has experience in several different business verticals.
• Flexibility and scalability: You can easily scale up or down your team of developers with the most flexibility and scalability an enterprise has to offer. According to your project requirements, if you want to finish your project sooner, you can increase the team size without any problem.
• Availability – This is one area where many companies differ from others when they hire an Android developer to handle the development of their apps. It means that if the developer gets sick or you are not satisfied, you can easily transfer to another developer of your choice.
• Ongoing relationship: Once the apps are developed and delivered to you, they won't end up there alone, as time goes by, apps need to be updated, functionality improved, etc., so it's important to be by your side at all times to improve. service satisfaction.
• NDA-Based Development: As per the Non-Disclosure Agreement, we provide you the confidential development services. Clients always want to keep their app idea confidential to gain a competitive advantage over their peers.

Finally, you understand that it's a good idea to hire Android app developers from abroad. Therefore, you can choose individuals or teams of professionals to work on your project. In addition, you would receive regular updates on the progress of the project and thus could have control over your project. No matter what your business goals are; Experienced and skilled Android app developers could turn your ideas and dreams into reality!

Oh!Actually it's pretty easy i had created one during my college's TechFest.It I would highlight on some details as to how u can get started.Prerequisite you have to be familiar with basic building blocks of Android -Activity,Broadcast Receivers,Content Providers, and Services coz all in all it requires all of it. All of it connects and connects pretty well. :)

• Use an ImageView and make it circular using bitmap and give an Image to it according to your choice. define various actions for it like what happens if you do touch and drag it to corner,if u bring it down to the bottom of screen (it should probably disappear),what if it's on the top of the screen it and u tap it (should open a customized window explanation of which i have provided later).
• Now let's see what basic features u should have in your floating activity the one which opened when u tapped it on on the top of the screen. Say you could have option for sending images ,video files , storing last conversations (Using List Adapters) ,nicely customized layout which should look lovely :P . and of course the send Button here in the concept of SERVICES would come to play which u would have access to using Telephony Message class .Oh! and Of course close button.
• Now the question how do u get started .It's easy as soon as someone sends u a message Ur Image View should appear This could be done BROADCAST RECEIVERS. Accordingly 1st and 2nd point follows. If anything's confusing or not clear u can have a look at this link. Chathead Basics " Piwaï.info

I hope it's clear :D :)