
21% of Android devices are now running ICS - esolyt
http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html
======
pilif
So one year after ICS came out and about three months after ICS' successor
came out, there's finally 21% of the devices running a now outdated version of
Android?

And we are celebrating that?

Google really needs to find a solution to get these devices updated
independently from the manufacturers which are only interested in selling new
devices.

It's very frustrating for developers to see more and more features being added
to the platform that are out of reach for years or require a lot of work to
implement in a backwards compatible way (which then also isn't worth the
effort because nobody is running the newer versions)

~~~
Steko
"Google really needs to find a solution to get these devices updated
independently from the manufacturers which are only interested in selling new
devices."

Why? I mean I'm sure Google would love faster updates from their partners and
I think going forward they've decided to share their roadmaps with more then
the current nexus partner which should help but:

(1) At the end of the day Android is doing gangbusters even with slow updates.

(2) There's a distinct line of devices that should get fast updates if that's
a killer feature for you.

(3) The whole point of Android is they don't all have to do anything.

~~~
taligent
Why ? Because most Android users don't like the fact that their devices are
basically abandoned the minute they are purchased.

It is by far the number one problem with the platform at the moment. And
frankly the idea that Google should do nothing about addressing Android's
biggest flaw is pretty dumb.

~~~
vetinari
Actually, most Android users (scratch that, most cellphone users) do not care
about updates at all. I've seen "normal users" with notification icon about
update available and what they do? Ignore it. (To add, in Sony Ericsson's
case, the notification is non-dismissable. Their biggest concern was, how to
make it disappear. They didn't want to run the update; "the current software
is fine").

~~~
taligent
Your argument is simply not true. iOS users regularly update as we've seen
time and time again. Windows users regularly update. OSX users regularly
update.

What makes Android users so different ?

~~~
vetinari
Only iOS users regularly update. Windows Phone was also sold only to
enthusiasts, who had to update to Mango, as the platform matured. Other
cellphone platforms users do not update, even if they can. In some cases, they
cannot and they are used to that (e.g. Symbian).

Windows and OSX are desktop systems, and not all of their owners update.
Witness the prevalence of XP and 10.5 in the wild.

~~~
Steko
If memory serves me correctly there's a decent sized pool of iOS users that
never hooked up their phone to the computer and so haven't gotten any updates
since they bought pre-OTA.

Going by wikipedia's usage share of web browsers maybe I'll say 15%+?

~~~
vetinari
You are right, when taking anectodes into account, I have such users around
me.

Even those, who are capable of OTA updates, they often don't (if your monthly
limit is 1GB of data, you are not going to burn it on update).

It may be difficult to accept on HN, but really, mainstream users do not care
about firmware updates. It is actually net negative for them. They have a
device they are using and the update changes the behavior, that they are used
to.

------
coopdog
I'm only buying nexus devices from now on unless a manufacturer gives a
guarantee on update delay and life of phone (or at least establishes a good
track record)

As much as I love my Samsung devices, really got burned by those updates

~~~
ajross
Virtually all the Galaxy S/2/III phones are supported by cyanogenmod.
Reflashing a phone is scary and weird when you do it the first time, but it's
really not hard and the community support is quite good.

If you're at the point, as a technical user, where OS flexibility is more
important to you than the device choice, then it's probably worth your time to
puzzle out the process.

~~~
vibrunazo
If he's getting a nexus only (like me) I suppose that means he always wants
the latest version of the OS. Cyanogenmod doesn't solve the problem because
they're always behind. By the time CM has stable builds for J, my phone will
be on K.

If you want a phone with the latest version of the OS, then CM is a bandage,
not a solution. The only solution is buying only nexuses.

~~~
w1ntermute
> Cyanogenmod doesn't solve the problem because they're always behind. By the
> time CM has stable builds for J, my phone will be on K.

That depends on how you look at it. It's only an issue for me if the phone is
_never_ updated. It's fine if I'm lagging behind by a version, as long as I
receive an update before I end up 2 versions behind.

------
27182818284
I'm an Android advocate, but I'm also a glass-half-empty-you're-going-to-die-
of-thirst kinda guy at times. For example at times like this, when I read that
21% have ICS, I want to shit all over Google's Android team for not having the
sense to know this was going to be a problem. I mean ICS is still a release
behind state of the art. I know Google has business PhDs, can't they lend them
to the Android team for a bit. "Root and load your own rom" is not an
acceptable answer for the user who has to be explained both what a rom is and
what rooting is.

~~~
mdwrigh2
What would you suggest as a solution? This isn't to suggest it isn't a
problem, just that not all problems have viable solutions.

~~~
taligent
Simple. Look at Linux. Look at Windows.

You centralize updates of the core OS and build ABIs/APIs for all of the parts
of the system that are needed to be extensible e.g. drivers, libraries, shells
etc. This model is proven to work and work well. It just needs Google to show
some leadership.

~~~
fpgeek
I'm sorry, but that's just bullshit.

The Linux / Windows update situation that is most analogous to the carrier-
gated smartphone updates is updating OSes inside large companies. It's the
same update process - a third party has to certify your update and then the
update is incrementally rolled out to a large number of computers.

So how do corporations do with their Windows and Linux updates? Well, I'm
using XP and RHEL 5 these days and I don't think my experience is at all
atypical...

------
BrainScraps
I'm also an Android-lover, but this sample is all kinds of skewed -

"based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Google Play within
a 14-day period ending on the data collection date " (September 4, 2012)

14-day period? That's a pretty decent way of making sure that the people who
have had their phones for a long time (like this guy here with the Droid X)
are underrepresented.

~~~
vibrunazo
Why exactly? Maybe you misread it? It's data from people who accessed the
store in 14 days, not people who have bought devices in 14 days. If you have
an old device but is actively updating apps, then you'll be represented.

They're getting data from devices which accessed the play store, because
that's all the data that google has.

~~~
ben1040
And even then, I'm pretty sure it's accessing the store in the background
without the user opening it up.

Otherwise, how would it know to pop up a notification that app updates are
available?

~~~
wiradikusuma
then it's still skewed. i have froyo and turn off background stuff to conserve
battery. i'm pretty sure many people do this for the same reason.

~~~
mdwrigh2
Do you update your apps once a month? Once every few months?

This statistic is published for _developers_ to get an idea of which OS
versions they should be supporting based off market share. If you aren't
opening the play store to buy apps in the 14-day period, then these developers
probably _aren't_ looking to sell to you.

Besides, I doubt most people know how to turn off background activities.

------
esusatyo
I'm actually quite amazed by the adoption rate of iOS. Before iOS 5.0, it was
very very hard for users to upgrade their OS. Android on the other hand is
supposed to be easier to upgrade.

There was some statistics last year that shows only 50% of iOS users sync
their iOS devices regularly, which means those people went out of their way to
go and get the OS update. I still can't believe this fact.

Now that iOS does update over the air, of course more iOS users will update
quicker. Especially when the update comes straight from Apple, but the fact
that iOS users upgrade their OS very quickly before 5.0 still impressed me.

~~~
MaxGabriel
For reference, iOS 5 adoption was 80% at WWDC

~~~
ghshephard
What percentage was iOS6? Between iOS 5/iOS 6 I would hope that it would be
north of 90% at WWDC.

~~~
esusatyo
iOS 6 is still in beta, it will probably be out to general public sometime
this month.

~~~
ghshephard
Right - I recall reading an article/blog/comment/pundit (Gruber? Marco?) that
suggested that their were was a greater percentage of people using IOS 6 than
there were Jellybean in the general population, right around the time of WWDC.
At WWDC proper - I would expect a sizable percentage of developers were
running IOS 6 on their devices.

------
noirman
Some Android device owners simply have not choice. Their devices aren't
support/capable of running ICS.

------
Urgo
I'm jealous of all the non-verizon Jelly Bean Galaxy Nexuses out there. I had
the first official ICS phone in the USA but Verizon has really hindered its
potential.

------
npguy
You can read this stat in two ways: 1. wow how tech savvy android users are OR
2. totally skewed stat, user never upgraded, they maynot even know.

~~~
fpgeek
Given that yesterday Google said Android had reached 480 million devices, we
have the following (overestimates because some devices are no longer in
service, but still):

Cupcake: ~ 1 million

Donut: ~ 2 million

Eclair: ~ 18 million

Froyo: ~ 67 million

Gingerbread: ~ 276 million

Honeycomb: ~ 10 million

Ice Cream Sandwich: ~ 100 million

Jelly Bean: ~ 6 million

~~~
esolyt
So we have 100 million ICS devices out there? Suddenly, it doesn't sound so
bad.

~~~
fpgeek
Yeah. AFAIK, ICS + Jelly Bean by themselves are bigger than every mobile
platform out there except for:

\- Symbian

\- Gingerbread by itself

\- iOS as a whole

\- Android as a whole

