Another 51.8 percent of Android users run Froyo, Android 2.2, while 35.2 percent run Éclair, Android 2.1. Altogether 87.4 percent of all Android phones run some form of Android 2.X.
Compare that to 89.7 percent of all iOS users running some form of iOS 4, as TechCrunch picked up from Bump CEO David Lieb's response in Quora. Broken down, Lieb said 52.89 percent of all iOS users upgraded to the latest minor version iOS 4.2.1.
The stark discrepency between the adoption rates of the latest Android and iOS versions points to the way mobile software is distributed. Unlike iOS users, Android handset owners receive over-the-air software updates from their carriers. This has led to carrier-manufacturer finger-pointing over the long delays between available software updates.
Most recently, someone claiming to be a T-Mobile source accused Samsung of conspiring to delay updated Froyo releases in order to sell more handsets. The latest news, reported today, is that Samsung may be releasing a Galaxy S Froyo update in March. GigaOm points out that the T-Mobile myTouch 3G only recently received Froyo—14 months after the device hit the market.
The distribution model is different for Gingerbread, however. For now it is only available on Google's Nexus S smartphone. Google launched its second smartphone directly to consumers, via Best Buy, on December 6, 2010. This is Google's second attempt to take back control of its own mobile software updates. A year ago Google launched Android exclusively on its Nexus One smartphone, carried by T-Mobile, but it didn't sell well. Eventually, Google had to give up some control over of Android to encourage mass adoption of the mobile OS.
via pcmag
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