Android LSmartphones based on Andro

Android L

Smartphones based on Android, which Google gives to hardware manufacturers for free, made up 78 percent of the global industry in 2013, up from 66 percent in 2012, according to Gartner Inc. The No. 2 player was Apple’s iPhone, which had 16 percent, down from 19 percent.

Yet Google’s strategy of putting Android everywhere is risky, Howe said. A race for ubiquity doesn’t mean Google will necessarily create the best products in each category, he said. Given that Google makes no revenue from the software, “it could easily lose money by winning,” he added.

The new version of Android, dubbed L and available to developers today, will let them easily implement features such as animations and will include more privacy tools, Google executives said. It also has a feature that lets people disable their smartphones if they get stolen.

“We have been working very hard,” Pichai said, adding that Android now has more than 1 billion active users. “This is one of the most comprehensive releases we have done.”