Kotlin was introduced to Android development at the Google I/O conference in May 2017. At the conference, Google announced that Kotlin would be officially supported as a first-class language for Android development, alongside Java. This meant that developers could start using Kotlin to build Android apps right away, without the need for any additional setup or configuration.

Google’s decision to support Kotlin was based on the language’s popularity and its ability to improve developer productivity and code quality. Kotlin is a modern programming language that is concise, expressive, and easy to read and write. It is also fully interoperable with Java, which means that developers can use both languages together in the same project.

Since its introduction to Android, Kotlin has gained widespread adoption among developers and is now considered the preferred language for Android development by many. Kotlin is also actively maintained and updated by JetBrains, the company that created the language, which ensures that it stays up to date with the latest Android development trends and best practices.