With the recent introduction of android application development, companies offering software consulting services have shifted gears to support this latest technology that is the first of its kind as a open source mobile platform. Android is defined as a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and application programming interfaces that are necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language. In android application development developers are free to take advantage of the device hardware, access location information, and run background services. This is the biggest advantage of using open source software.

The android application development market is the fastest growing market in mobile technology with majority of its developers being young people under the age of 34. This growth is attributed to the fact that android phones are available in any cell phone network and which makes them accessible to many subscribers. Android applications can be distributed for a fee, free of charge, or monetized with advertising. They are usually based on GPS and Wifi, SMS and Email, usage of Google maps, browser and contacts, and multimedia.

Software consulting firms are now providing support for the android platform so as to stay up to date with the latest technologies. These consulting firms have observed that the increase in android application development is considered to be directly proportional to the increase in user population since the more the number of users the more the demand for android applications. Software firms have thus invested in acquiring skilled developers who are proficient in mobile applications.

The android market has the highest percentage of applications from third-party developers. However these apps have to ask for permission before accessing certain features such as reading and writing to users’ memory cards and accessing users’ address books.

Mobile application developers use the android software development kit and the android native development kit for android application development. Most of the android developers have good experience in mobile applications and this has greatly contributed to their success. Software consulting firms are committed to testing and learning new technologies and teaming up with interested clients to develop their applications. These firms will as a norm carry out a feasibility study before any project is initiated, and followed by project management which is carried out in phases. When implementation is completed and the client is satisfied the project is then terminated. Consultations on hardware and software can also be done separately.