Hot on the heels of the recent announcement that Android yet dominates the mobile market, we now have the monthly Android statistics courtesy of the Android Developers Dashboard. Unlike last month, the news isn’t quite as disheartening this time around, meaning the newer versions of Android are starting to take hold.
Cutting right to the chase, Jelly Bean is now installed on more than 10% of all Android devices. This is certainly cause for cheer and celebration, because the latest version of Android has finally made it into double digits.
While this news is certainly astounding, even more astonishing is the fact that Android 4.1 and 4.2 combined have seen a positive increase of about 50% over the previous months numbers.
As always, the information was collected by Google over a 14-day period, ending, in this case, on January 3rd, 2013. Google simply queries devices when they connect to the Google Play store, taking note of the specific version installed.
Just last month, during the period that ended on December 3rd, 2012, Jelly Bean was only installed on 6.7 percent of devices. Now, we see a combined total of 10.2% of mobile devices running Android 4.1 and 4.2.
Last month, Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) accounted for a total of 27.5% of active devices on the market. As it would turn out, ICS has seen an increase this month too, comprising up to 29.1% of active devices on the market.
Interestingly, Android 2.3 Gingerbread has seen a decrease in numbers this time around, reeling in about 47.6%, in the latest poll, down from 50.8% in the previous one. This is good news indeed, considering Gingerbread makes up most of the active device market. Personally, I’d much rather see one of the newer versions taking the lead instead of a severely outdated one.
I used to feel disheartened by these numbers, but now I’m starting to feel more confidence. Of course, none of this will affect the lengthy update cycles offered by mobile carriers and device manufacturers, but clearly more devices are seeing updates.
Devices like the Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X, and Motorola’s RAZR line have seen numerous updates to the latest version of Android. One can only hope this is a sign of things to come in the future.
If you find yourself rather disinterested in these numbers, then by all means take solace in the fact that both Jelly Bean and Ice Cream Sandwich are on the rise. One certainly cannot ignore the fact that this is also due to a surge of new tablets and devices running the latest version of Android, meaning it’s not entirely due to older devices receiving an update.
This information, combined with the aforementioned proof of Android dominating the mobile market points to one supremely crucial aspect. The Android ecosystem is constantly evolving, both in form and function. It’s dominating the market because of what it offers, and the newer versions of Android are starting to take hold, which will hopefully translate to less fragmentation overall.
On a final note, concerning the old English speak I used in the title, deal with it.