There aren’t enough words that describe the sheer elegance of Android 4.0; Ice Cream Sandwich. However, the number of phones currently using the latest version of Google’s prime OS is small by any standard. Google keeps a record of each Android variant accessing the Android market and the latest figures show that only 1.6% of all devices accessing the app market were running Ice Cream Sandwich. This is just over half a percent point up from the last recorded statistics.
These numbers reflect all the four variants of Ice Cream Sandwich i.e. from 4.0 to 4.0.3. So, in the three months that Ice Cream Sandwich has been available, the number of devices accessing the app store from the OS has increased from 0 to just 1.6%, which is disappointing for an update which has long been the talking point of the entire Android community. In the United States there are only three phones which officially have Ice Cream Sandwich- the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Nexus S. Other Android phones are still waiting for the update. On Tuesday, Verizon announced 12 devices (five of which are tablets) that will receive the update soon.
Google has attempted to divert attention from the disappointing ICS adoption rate and points out that devices with Gingerbread actually showed an increase, stealing share from both Froyo and Eclair. Its per cent share rose from 58.8% to 62%. The only inference that one can deduce from this statistic is that three out of every five Android phones are using a version that was released in December 2010. Honeycomb (for tablets only) fell to 3.3%. Froyo fell two percentage points, ending the week at 25.3%. The remaining (Donut and Cupcake) contribute a mere 1.2%. An interesting statistic here is that Gingerbread and Froyo combined run on almost 88% of the total number of Android devices.
Google has stated that these numbers are expected to change and that the lack of widespread ICS adoption was a mere delay and everything will soon fall into place soon. Google released the code for ICS in November last year but Samsung obviously got a head start by receiving the same in October since it manufactures the flagship Android phone, the Galaxy Nexus. Other Android manufacturers are not so lucky, and have received the code only recently. This is also speculated to be the reason why many devices at the MWC ran Gingerbread, with a promised ICS update. When these ‘promised’ updates will happen, is anyone’s guess.
June 24, 2012 at 4:41 pm
I can only speak from a consumer’s point of view, but when I look at the ICS, I think “what’s the point in buying this now, if I already know Jellybean is coming out in a couple of months?” Technology changes very rapidly. When Gingerbread came out in 2010, it was first phone that arguably contested the apple iPhone, and people (like myself) were willing to invest in the underdog’s capabilities. In two years, these phones haven’t changed dramatically enough in specs for the average consumer to cough up some cash and buy a new phone. The only phone I would consider buying these days is the Droid RazrMAXX and its only because it’s battery life is light years better than any other phone in the market (not because its faster at pulling up youtube videos or any thing else).