6 ms·

For reference, JellyBean 4.2 is still at 8.6% a year after release[1] [1] http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html http://developer.android.com

For reference, JellyBean 4.2 is still at 8.6% a year after release[1] [1] http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html

eknkc 13y ago
When Android came along as a strong competitor to iOS, I remember reading about OTA updates and thinking "How come we are still updating via freaking iTunes? I hate this shit from Apple..". At some point I got an Android, had to root and install CM to upgrade after waiting a long time for OTA update. Then I got a Lumia 920 last year to see the development opportunity on WP8, had to wait for an update (Portico?) to roll out on my carrier for months after it's US release. Got rid of it sometime later. My iPhone 5 is downloading the iOS 7 update right now.
- Osiris 13y ago
  I have never owned an iOS device, but this is the one area that competitors have not been able to match, and I don't fully understand why. Google tried with the Handset Alliance but that basically didn't work at all. Microsoft tried to make carriers allow them to release updates directly but they couldn't get that to work either. It seems like only Apple has enough money-making power for carriers to tell the carrier to go screw themselves.
  - ianstormtaylor 13y ago
    True. Apple didn't always offer the stream the updates over the air, and they've always been good about getting the new OS pushed out. I think another part of it is that iPhone users are more likely (or at least were) to plug their phones into their computers, use iTunes, and be prompted to update their phones. That part didn't deal with the carriers at all.
  - TheEskimo 13y ago
    > I don't fully understand why It's pretty simple - Apple owns the hardware and software they're pushing updates for. Sure, they don't own the carriers, but that's not the problem. In Google's case they neither own the hardware nor all the software because each third party phone manufacturer slaps in its own stuff and maintains its own fork of android. Microsoft might own the software, but they don't fully own the hardware. Microsoft is a lot closer to managing it than Google though. This isn't that Apple has more power over carriers and it isn't hard to understand - it's simply that they have more ownership of all the devices and there are far fewer types of devices (very limited set of software/hardware combinations).
    - eslaught 13y ago
      > In Google's case they neither own the hardware nor all the software because each third party phone manufacturer slaps in its own stuff and maintains its own fork of android. Which is a problem because these forks take substantial time to update to the newest version of each OS. And then they take more time because sometimes vendors make modifications to the core OS that breaks Google or other core apps (see e.g. EVO and Gmail) so the whole system has to be QA'd rigorously to prove that nothing is broken.
- cheeyoonlee 13y ago
  I think the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem plays a large part in that. Apple only has to worry about a few models and can push updates all at once with very few variations in firmware.
RobAtticus 13y ago
4.2 was released in November, so it hasn't been a year yet (though I doubt the situation will be much better at that time).
Recoil42 13y ago
The two don't quite compare on an even plane anymore -- Android has Google Play Services, and has unbundled its apps from the core OS, and that makes a huge difference. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/balky-carriers-and-slow-oems-step-aside-google-is-defragging-android/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/balky-carriers-and-sl...
- netcraft 13y ago
  which is because the carriers were not making the updates available in a timely fashion, correct?
  - pedrocr 13y ago
    Most manufacturers don't produce the updates for the carriers to make available anyway, from what I've seen it's mostly the manufacturer's fault.
- gnarfz 13y ago
  this might be good for customers but doesn't change anything for me, as a developer. we still have to support down to 2.3. it is a big PITA to develop for and you can't use the new fancy(tm) stuff most of the time. sometimes i'm a bit jealous, but only sometimes :)
dstaley 13y ago
Before anyone starts drawing conclusions and making claims about OS superiority based on this comment, it's an absurd comparison to make. iOS 7 adoption rates are measured across eight devices manufactured by one company. Android adoption rates are measured across thousands of Android devices made by countless manufacturers. The continuous return to the fact that Apple can get its latest OS onto a majority of its own devices faster than other manufactures can get another company's OS onto their devices completely ignores the fact that the Android and iOS ecosystem is fundamentally different.
- omni 13y ago
  The reason why fragmentation occurs is irrelevant. The negative effects of fragmentation on developers and their user bases will still exist even if your platform is fragmented for "good" reasons.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- melange 13y ago
  And that fundamental difference leads to some advantages - More devices to choose from, cheaper hardware, side loading. And some disadvantages - most users have an outdated operating system, and developers have to deal with fragmentation of OS versions and hardware platforms. The fact that Apple can get its latest OS onto a majority of devices ignores nothing. Apple can do this because of a strategy decision they made. Google cannot because they chose a different strategy that has different priorities. If you want an ecosystem where users have up-to-date system software, Apple has chosen correctly.
  - dstaley 13y ago
    Exactly. I just feel that some people look at the adoption rates and completely ignore the decisions that were made that allows Apple to achieve those numbers. At this stage in the game, and with the guiding principles of Android, achieving those numbers are impossible for Android. I just want people to understand that the comparison is more complex, for the exact reasons you've stated.
eYsYs 13y ago
Not an even comparison. If you really want to compare, then have a look at updates for Nexus devices.
- programminggeek 13y ago
  Totally a fair comparison because the impact that updating nexus devices has is negligible. Better comparison would be how long it takes to get the latest on say the Galaxy S 3 or 4 phones. Or any of the Galaxy S phones. My iPhone 4 can get iOS 7 today. That's as old of a device as a Galaxy S or S II I believe. I'm pretty sure that the S and S II are both in Android 2.2 or 2.3 land. It's a side effect of the two different approaches to ecosystem for sure, but it's not an unfair comparison.
  - puma7 13y ago
    Galaxy S2 is currently on JB.
    - foley 13y ago
      and the Galaxy S is Ice Cream Sandwich. It can run Jelly Bean but doesn't really have the RAM to run it well.
deelowe 13y ago
Should we compare the percentage of macs running OSX 10.8.5 against the percentage PCs running windows 8? I think fragmentation is just the nature of a distributed hardware environment. I'm not sure what that means really, but there seems to be parallels here.
- threeseed 13y ago
  That's a pretty dumb comparison. Windows 8 has been polarising and comes at a time when PCs in general has seen almost no growth. You are better off looking back at the Windows 95 days. In which case Microsoft allowed OEMs to customise parts of the OS whilst still allowing updates. Google has just poorly designed Android. End of story.
  - talmand 13y ago
    I'm sorry, I fail to see how Android is designed has anything to do with carriers not updating their specific hardware's OS version. My devices are kept up-to-date quite nicely, so I guess Android on those is the one that Google designed correctly? That's more about Google's negotiating capabilities with the carriers than how they design software.
psbp 13y ago
Probably around ~100% on nexus devices.
- RobAtticus 13y ago
  Probably not. The Nexus S does not officially get 4.2, and it came out after the iPhone 4 which does get iOS 7.
  - psbp 13y ago
    It gets a minimal amount of features in iOS 7.
jusben1369 13y ago
These comparisons though are becoming meaningless. Google is doing major upgrades to all the key apps on Android at a super fast clip. I think they realized they'd never get close to doing it the Apple way and then wondered why they were doing it the Apple way anyways?

For reference, JellyBean 4.2 is still at 8.6% a year after release[1] [1] http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html

eknkc 13y ago

When Android came along as a strong competitor to iOS, I remember reading about OTA updates and thinking "How come we are still updating via freaking iTunes? I hate this shit from Apple..". At some point I got an Android, had to root and install CM to upgrade after waiting a long time for OTA update. Then I got a Lumia 920 last year to see the development opportunity on WP8, had to wait for an update (Portico?) to roll out on my carrier for months after it's US release. Got rid of it sometime later. My iPhone 5 is downloading the iOS 7 update right now.

Osiris 13y ago
I have never owned an iOS device, but this is the one area that competitors have not been able to match, and I don't fully understand why. Google tried with the Handset Alliance but that basically didn't work at all. Microsoft tried to make carriers allow them to release updates directly but they couldn't get that to work either. It seems like only Apple has enough money-making power for carriers to tell the carrier to go screw themselves.
- ianstormtaylor 13y ago
  True. Apple didn't always offer the stream the updates over the air, and they've always been good about getting the new OS pushed out. I think another part of it is that iPhone users are more likely (or at least were) to plug their phones into their computers, use iTunes, and be prompted to update their phones. That part didn't deal with the carriers at all.
- TheEskimo 13y ago
  > I don't fully understand why It's pretty simple - Apple owns the hardware and software they're pushing updates for. Sure, they don't own the carriers, but that's not the problem. In Google's case they neither own the hardware nor all the software because each third party phone manufacturer slaps in its own stuff and maintains its own fork of android. Microsoft might own the software, but they don't fully own the hardware. Microsoft is a lot closer to managing it than Google though. This isn't that Apple has more power over carriers and it isn't hard to understand - it's simply that they have more ownership of all the devices and there are far fewer types of devices (very limited set of software/hardware combinations).
  - eslaught 13y ago
    > In Google's case they neither own the hardware nor all the software because each third party phone manufacturer slaps in its own stuff and maintains its own fork of android. Which is a problem because these forks take substantial time to update to the newest version of each OS. And then they take more time because sometimes vendors make modifications to the core OS that breaks Google or other core apps (see e.g. EVO and Gmail) so the whole system has to be QA'd rigorously to prove that nothing is broken.
cheeyoonlee 13y ago
I think the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem plays a large part in that. Apple only has to worry about a few models and can push updates all at once with very few variations in firmware.

RobAtticus 13y ago

4.2 was released in November, so it hasn't been a year yet (though I doubt the situation will be much better at that time).

Recoil42 13y ago

The two don't quite compare on an even plane anymore -- Android has Google Play Services, and has unbundled its apps from the core OS, and that makes a huge difference. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/balky-carriers-and-slow-oems-step-aside-google-is-defragging-android/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/balky-carriers-and-sl...

netcraft 13y ago
which is because the carriers were not making the updates available in a timely fashion, correct?
- pedrocr 13y ago
  Most manufacturers don't produce the updates for the carriers to make available anyway, from what I've seen it's mostly the manufacturer's fault.
gnarfz 13y ago
this might be good for customers but doesn't change anything for me, as a developer. we still have to support down to 2.3. it is a big PITA to develop for and you can't use the new fancy(tm) stuff most of the time. sometimes i'm a bit jealous, but only sometimes :)

dstaley 13y ago

Before anyone starts drawing conclusions and making claims about OS superiority based on this comment, it's an absurd comparison to make. iOS 7 adoption rates are measured across eight devices manufactured by one company. Android adoption rates are measured across thousands of Android devices made by countless manufacturers. The continuous return to the fact that Apple can get its latest OS onto a majority of its own devices faster than other manufactures can get another company's OS onto their devices completely ignores the fact that the Android and iOS ecosystem is fundamentally different.

omni 13y ago
The reason why fragmentation occurs is irrelevant. The negative effects of fragmentation on developers and their user bases will still exist even if your platform is fragmented for "good" reasons.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
melange 13y ago
And that fundamental difference leads to some advantages - More devices to choose from, cheaper hardware, side loading. And some disadvantages - most users have an outdated operating system, and developers have to deal with fragmentation of OS versions and hardware platforms. The fact that Apple can get its latest OS onto a majority of devices ignores nothing. Apple can do this because of a strategy decision they made. Google cannot because they chose a different strategy that has different priorities. If you want an ecosystem where users have up-to-date system software, Apple has chosen correctly.
- dstaley 13y ago
  Exactly. I just feel that some people look at the adoption rates and completely ignore the decisions that were made that allows Apple to achieve those numbers. At this stage in the game, and with the guiding principles of Android, achieving those numbers are impossible for Android. I just want people to understand that the comparison is more complex, for the exact reasons you've stated.

eYsYs 13y ago

Not an even comparison. If you really want to compare, then have a look at updates for Nexus devices.

programminggeek 13y ago
Totally a fair comparison because the impact that updating nexus devices has is negligible. Better comparison would be how long it takes to get the latest on say the Galaxy S 3 or 4 phones. Or any of the Galaxy S phones. My iPhone 4 can get iOS 7 today. That's as old of a device as a Galaxy S or S II I believe. I'm pretty sure that the S and S II are both in Android 2.2 or 2.3 land. It's a side effect of the two different approaches to ecosystem for sure, but it's not an unfair comparison.
- puma7 13y ago
  Galaxy S2 is currently on JB.
  - foley 13y ago
    and the Galaxy S is Ice Cream Sandwich. It can run Jelly Bean but doesn't really have the RAM to run it well.

deelowe 13y ago

Should we compare the percentage of macs running OSX 10.8.5 against the percentage PCs running windows 8? I think fragmentation is just the nature of a distributed hardware environment. I'm not sure what that means really, but there seems to be parallels here.

threeseed 13y ago
That's a pretty dumb comparison. Windows 8 has been polarising and comes at a time when PCs in general has seen almost no growth. You are better off looking back at the Windows 95 days. In which case Microsoft allowed OEMs to customise parts of the OS whilst still allowing updates. Google has just poorly designed Android. End of story.
- talmand 13y ago
  I'm sorry, I fail to see how Android is designed has anything to do with carriers not updating their specific hardware's OS version. My devices are kept up-to-date quite nicely, so I guess Android on those is the one that Google designed correctly? That's more about Google's negotiating capabilities with the carriers than how they design software.

psbp 13y ago

Probably around ~100% on nexus devices.

RobAtticus 13y ago
Probably not. The Nexus S does not officially get 4.2, and it came out after the iPhone 4 which does get iOS 7.
- psbp 13y ago
  It gets a minimal amount of features in iOS 7.

jusben1369 13y ago

These comparisons though are becoming meaningless. Google is doing major upgrades to all the key apps on Android at a super fast clip. I think they realized they'd never get close to doing it the Apple way and then wondered why they were doing it the Apple way anyways?