Only 0.6-Percent of Android Devices Have Ice Cream Sandwich Installed

[onthebottom]

What good is a unified mobile OS (gee, wonder where that idea came from) if you can't use it:


Only 0.6-Percent of Android Devices Have Ice Cream Sandwich Installed

BY ROBERTO BALDWIN
JAN 4, 2012

It's been over two months since Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) launched and the adoption rate is nothing short of pitiful. It's sort of a disaster.

The numbers, posted on Android's developer site, paint a pretty sad picture of adoption rates. The data was gathered during a 14-day survey of Android devices that had accessed the Android Market. 55.5-percent of the devices were running Gingerbread (2.3). The tablet OS, Honeycomb (3.0), only accounted for 3.3-percent of devices to access the site during the time period and Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) posted 0.6-percent. Froyo, (2.2) which has been out for 20 months, is still chugging along at 30.4-percent.

Because it's up to OEMs to update the software for their devices and push it consumers, it could be a while before those Ice Cream Sandwich numbers start creeping up.

 

[Tangwhich]

This is a non story. Who fucking cares. Even for you OTB, this is bottom of the barrel.

 

[onthebottom]

This is a non story. Who fucking cares. Even for you OTB, this is bottom of the barrel.

Really, you don't think ICS, the first tablet ready OS from Google and the first unified OS for Android mobile devices is important? You don't think getting the user base to this platform is important?

OTB

 

[djk]

This is a non story. Who fucking cares. Even for you OTB, this is bottom of the barrel.

Not exactly. It does illustrate fragmentation in the ecosystem and how slow the OEM's are in rolling out Ice Cream Sandwich.

 

[WoodPeckr]

Really, you don't think ICS, the first tablet ready OS from Google and the first unified OS for Android mobile devices is important? You don't think getting the user base to this platform is important?

OTB

Nope!!!
But carry on fanboi bottie....

 

[onthebottom]

Nope!!!
But carry on fanboi bottie....

I know, for a Linux guy .06% market share looks like a surge....

OTB

 

[WoodPeckr]

I know, for a Linux guy .06% market share looks like a surge....

OTB

Hey I'm very happy using Linux the last several years for a total cost to me of ZERO Dollars!!!....
How much did you Apple rubes shell out to Stevo in that same time span???

 

[Tangwhich]

Really, you don't think ICS, the first tablet ready OS from Google and the first unified OS for Android mobile devices is important? You don't think getting the user base to this platform is important?

OTB

Not really. When a new version of windows comes out, it's not expected that everyone update over night. There's millions of android phones out there, many of them are not (nor will they ever) be able to run ICS. There's really only one phone for sale right now running it but I'm sure that that will be a different story in a few months and those numbers will climb quickly. This is a total non story.
BTW, ICS is the second tablet OS, not the first.

 

[Tangwhich]

Not exactly. It does illustrate fragmentation in the ecosystem and how slow the OEM's are in rolling out Ice Cream Sandwich.

You're right about the fragmentation, but really for 95% of people it's not really an issue. It would piss me off if I had an OEM branded phone, but I'm a power user. Most people don't care as long as they are running the apps they want.

 

[onthebottom]

Not really. When a new version of windows comes out, it's not expected that everyone update over night. There's millions of android phones out there, many of them are not (nor will they ever) be able to run ICS. There's really only one phone for sale right now running it but I'm sure that that will be a different story in a few months and those numbers will climb quickly. This is a total non story.
BTW, ICS is the second tablet OS, not the first.

There is the "everyone overnight" standard and then there is .6% after two months.... this speaks to the weakness of the model. All reports/reviews of ICS are very positive, yet almost no one is able to use the OS.

After 49 days Apple had this adoption of iOS 5:

http://www.marco.org/2011/11/30/more-ios-device-and-os-version-stats-from-instapaper


This speaks to a weakness in the Android model....

OTB

 

[WoodPeckr]

Still....

 

[Tangwhich]

You're entitled to your opinion OTB. I wouldn't expect anything different from you. I don't see it as an issue, the same way I don't see an issue for people who had a 386 that didn't upgrade to win95.
Apple has their business model and it's a good one, but it has flaws. Google/MS have their business models and they are good ones, but have flaws. I've used them both and despite the weaknesses, I pick android over iphone. Go out on the street any ask anyone you see using an android if they are upset that they are not running Ice Cream Sandwhich. I'd be surprised if even 1 in 10 didn't say something like "what the fuck are you talking about". Show me all the graphs you want but the bottom line is it really doesn't matter. Stop confusing power users with most users.

 

[onthebottom]

You're entitled to your opinion OTB. I wouldn't expect anything different from you. I don't see it as an issue, the same way I don't see an issue for people who had a 386 that didn't upgrade to win95.
Apple has their business model and it's a good one, but it has flaws. Google/MS have their business models and they are good ones, but have flaws. I've used them both and despite the weaknesses, I pick android over iphone. Go out on the street any ask anyone you see using an android if they are upset that they are not running Ice Cream Sandwhich. I'd be surprised if even 1 in 10 didn't say something like "what the fuck are you talking about". Show me all the graphs you want but the bottom line is it really doesn't matter. Stop confusing power users with most users.

I do agree there is a large population (I would argue a massive majority) of android users who do very little with their phone and thus don't really care. My nephew is one of these, he's 14, he can't afford an iPhone so he has a free android phone.

I doubt that power users are only .6% and thus I'd think they'd be pissed.

In any event it's a great illustration of the failure in the model for anyone wanting to take advantage of Google's substantial R&D investments.

Don't be afraid of facts, they can be your friends (even if they appear as pictures to help the less intellectually robust).

OTB

 

[Tangwhich]

I do agree there is a large population (I would argue a massive majority) of android users who do very little with their phone and thus don't really care. My nephew is one of these, he's 14, he can't afford an iPhone so he has a free android phone.

I doubt that power users are only .6% and thus I'd think they'd be pissed.

In any event it's a great illustration of the failure in the model for anyone wanting to take advantage of Google's substantial R&D investments.

Don't be afraid of facts, they can be your friends (even if they appear as pictures to help the less intellectually robust).

OTB

I don't see how this is a failure of the "model" (what does that mean?). Because a huge amount of the phones out there aren't capable of running the OS, how does that make it a failure? If my computer doesn't run the new version of windows, does that make my computer somehow broken? There's only 1 phone selling right now that has this OS. There's only 2 (I believe, please correct me if I'm wrong) that are capable of upgrading to ICS. That's tiny tiny numbers of the amount of phones out there. These statistics are completely meaningless. If it was the % of phones CAPABLE of running ICS, then you'd have some useful data, but this data is nothing more than more crap in the stupid mobile phone wars.

Since this sort of stuff seems to important to you though, I look forward to reading your posting condemning apple of not allowing 4g users to run siri, even though hackers have shown it works fine.

 

[basketcase]

...
I doubt that power users are only .6% and thus I'd think they'd be pissed.
...

You really have no clue about the android community do you. Any android 'power user' would easily be running whatever version or rom they want (including loading ics if they want). They either use the source code to develop a rom or like or look around for any of the dozens available for one that meets their needs. Unlike apple, they have the freedom to customize to add or get rid of the features they don't want or need.

Many power users are actually quite happy with their 2.3 roms and when there is an ice cream flavour they like they'll use it.


I agree with the above post that apple and android both have appeal to certain groups but just because you are an apple fan, you don't have to make nonsensical criticisms of android (unless you enjoy the attention that mr. ~ gets).

 

[onthebottom]

I don't see how this is a failure of the "model" (what does that mean?). Because a huge amount of the phones out there aren't capable of running the OS, how does that make it a failure? If my computer doesn't run the new version of windows, does that make my computer somehow broken? There's only 1 phone selling right now that has this OS. There's only 2 (I believe, please correct me if I'm wrong) that are capable of upgrading to ICS. That's tiny tiny numbers of the amount of phones out there. These statistics are completely meaningless. If it was the % of phones CAPABLE of running ICS, then you'd have some useful data, but this data is nothing more than more crap in the stupid mobile phone wars.

Since this sort of stuff seems to important to you though, I look forward to reading your posting condemning apple of not allowing 4g users to run siri, even though hackers have shown it works fine.

Perhaps this will help, would it be more accurate if I said that 90% of Android users are relegated to a older release of the OS because either their HW or carrier won't support it?

OTB

 

[onthebottom]

You really have no clue about the android community do you. Any android 'power user' would easily be running whatever version or rom they want (including loading ics if they want). They either use the source code to develop a rom or like or look around for any of the dozens available for one that meets their needs. Unlike apple, they have the freedom to customize to add or get rid of the features they don't want or need.

Many power users are actually quite happy with their 2.3 roms and when there is an ice cream flavour they like they'll use it.


I agree with the above post that apple and android both have appeal to certain groups but just because you are an apple fan, you don't have to make nonsensical criticisms of android (unless you enjoy the attention that mr. ~ gets).

I'm guessing there are a significant portion of the Android user base that are power users but not hackers.... I'd say that latter category is very small, although I'm not burdened with any facts on the matter.

OTB

 

[Tangwhich]

Perhaps this will help, would it be more accurate if I said that 90% of Android users are relegated to a older release of the OS because either their HW or carrier won't support it?

OTB

About as helpful as me saying 100% of Macintosh users have not upgraded to Mac OS X.
Both might be true, but both are utterly meaningless.

 

[djk]

You're right about the fragmentation, but really for 95% of people it's not really an issue. It would piss me off if I had an OEM branded phone, but I'm a power user. Most people don't care as long as they are running the apps they want.

There are some benefits for Android as a whole to get ICS out ASAP and on as many handsets as possible. Familiarity with the UI across the board, end users gain benefits from ICS (one great example is hardware acceleration of the UI) and it allows Google to push ahead with their agenda to address some of their big challenges (http://developer.android.com/design/index.html and http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/3/2680410/google-holo-theme-android-4-0-required).

Yes, there's a difference between common and power users. But just because the former isn't aware of the benefits of something, doesn't mean its not there.

 

[Tangwhich]

There are some benefits for Android as a whole to get ICS out ASAP and on as many handsets as possible. Familiarity with the UI across the board, end users gain benefits from ICS (one great example is hardware acceleration of the UI) and it allows Google to push ahead with their agenda to address some of their big challenges (http://developer.android.com/design/index.html and http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/3/2680410/google-holo-theme-android-4-0-required).

Yes, there's a difference between common and power users. But just because the former isn't aware of the benefits of something, doesn't mean its not there.

Frankly, if I was google I wouldn't even focus on the old handsets. Most of them can't run ICS for starters. But more importantly (at least I feel it is) is that all the old handsets have on screen buttons. I would focus only on the phones that have "drawn" buttons except for the very latest phones just prior to ICS. If it wasn't for those buttons, I would have gotten the Note rather than the Nexus.
Obsolescence is a common attribute in technology. Perhaps more so in phones than anything else. ICS will gain momentum, as it naturally should as people upgrade to newer hardware which they almost certainly would have done, regardless of if their old handset got an ICS upgrade - just like many iphone users upgrade to new models even when the OS of the new phone is virtually identical.