In 2005, a small Palo Alto-based mobile software company called Android Inc. was quietly folded into Googles growing empire. The acquisition led to the release of the companys first-ever Google phone three years later: the T-Mobile G1 (or HTC Dream as it was mostly known outside of the US). Googles philosophy for the G1 centered on one-click search and a rich web experience, and leveraging T-Mobiles 3G network was essential to its success.