Android Defragging Itself
Android trash-talkers’ most common criticism of Android, that there are too many versions of its platform out there making it difficult for developers to make an application that works on all phones, is growing less and less founded at an accelerating rate with Android 2.1 and 2.2 (Froyo) currently making up 70.4% of the share of all Android phones.
Froyo, at 28.7%, the latest and greatest of them all, is displacing the rest rapidly, gaining about a quarter of the entire share just since the beginning of August. Here boss, you want charts? I got your charts right here, the numbers as of September 1st:
What’s that? You want to see the distribution growth over time since March in various shades of green? No problem chief, I got you covered:
Note how Android 2.2 has exponential growth whereas 1.6 and 2.1 are plateauing. This, not unlike how Android-packing phones are the best sellers in the US, is good news for developers and prospective developers which is good news for the rest of us.
Update: Just thought I’d add that based on the above data the AndroidPolice found dated August by Chitika, Android is less fragmented than iOS. Just sayin’.
Doug Simmons
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Doug Simmons
Biographical info.. hmm. I have a history of not being able to strike the balance between what is "safe" to put into these forms and what is, in my mind at least, funny. Can't do it.
Hey chief, also notice that 72% of Android phones are NOT running the latest 2.2 version.
Android phones rely on carriers for updates. WP7 phones will receive updates straight from Redmond so everyone will have the latest version in an instant instead of waiting months and praying to gods 😛
Hey not hating here or anything. Andorid is great and has great features but it’s super open nature is letting carriers dillute the greatness of the OS into bloatware from everyone. Every carrier I have seen eliminates awesome google services (free navigation, maps, etc) for paid versions instead just to suck money out of consumers. The vision is not stable across platforms and one really gets a sense that Android idea is too watered off now.
The idea of getting updates straight from let’s say Cupertino for Apple and Redmond for WP7 really is a great one, and stability across platforms is essencial.
In any case, Android is awesome and it’s giving Apple and its flagship product a run for its money. Let’s wait and see what can WP7 do now that it launches, jiji. Can’t wait!!!
That’s great and all, especially if you’re talking full rom updates and not bits and pieces windows update-like updating which tends to be more annoying than apparently and obviously beneficial like an Android update invariably is and even better if that means no carrier bloat (we’ll see about that one), but… i’ll believe it when i see it and in the meantime consider entertaining any bets on the subject.
Fragmentation is MORE than just the operating system, gentlemen.
It’s the User Experience.
It’s the User Interface.
It’s the Screen Size, orientation, and resolution.
It’s the number of buttons and what they do.
I got my wife an Aria, and she only uses it for a fraction of what it’s capable of doing.
If I got her a different Android phone, she would be hard-pressed to figure out what the hell to do, even to replicate the same things she does now.
You know why?
Fragmentation.
Start thinking like real users and not power users.
And… a few months later… http://www.razorianfly.com/2011/01/17/ios-4-x-reaches-90-user-base-adoption-according-to-developer-stats/
Only bringing this old article up again so that I can find this later when iOS 5 comes out and can use it to reference something I will be writing about..