Among the latest mobile technologies, Android has put a strong foothold on the global mobile technology industry. Essential as well as interesting applications can be developed for mobile users through Android Application Development. Android application developers are taking advantage of the open source platform to bring forth a host of mobile phone apps which will help to shape and define the future of mobile phones. To add to more, the Android Marketplace had over 200,000 applications by the end of the year 2010.

As per the trend since last five years, it has been observed that mobile users are expecting more features and utilities in their handsets clubbed in a compact manner. By providing an open development platform, Android offers developers the ability to build extremely rich and innovative applications.

Among the various features, the below mentioned features of Android have influenced the developers of mobile applications:

1. Adaptability to a wide range of graphics libraries based on OpenGL ES 2.0 specifications, including VGA, 2D and 3D standards
2. Excellent data storage capabilities based on the flexible and lightweight database- SQLite
3. A great scope for J2ME Application Development via third-party applications such as the J2ME MIDP Runner
4. Excellent compatibility and full support for a wide range of audio and video formats, including H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 SP, AAC, MP3, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG and more

The SDK including a large number of tools, including libraries, debugger, documentation, tutorials and sample codes has helped enormously in Android Application Development.