Since Google announced the launch of its mobile operating system for Android devices, the platform has been moving fast. While the company has been pushing to keep the operating system up to date and secure, it is a fact that OEMs and carriers do not always act fast enough in distributing new updated code to existing users. Another problem facing the Android operating system is that new devices are also not released with the latest code available.
The result of the above-mentioned problems is that users will currently find six versions of the Android operating system, co-existing on Android devices around the world. For those not familiar with the history of the Android operating system, the versions are Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread and the newly released Ice Cream Sandwich.
According to recent statistics, Android 2.3.x, or Gingerbread, represents 50.51% of all Android operating systems in these devices. The other five operating systems make up 47%, while the Honeycomb operating system in tablet devices makes up the remainder.
Froyo currently represents a 35.3% share, while Eclair has a 9% share. 1.3% of devices still run on Donut and 0.8% of devices make use of Cupcake.
What the mobile phone sector currently need to see is a move from Froyo to Gingerbread and then to Ice Cream Sandwich in order to ensure uniformity in the Android operating system amongst devices, but the question remains: How long will it take carriers and OEMs to start acting on this?
image: Androidcommunity
