According to a new report from OpenSignal, 21 percent of Android devices are running 4.4 KitKat, but those users are mostly clustered in the United States and Western Europe.
Google reportedly has begun requiring new handsets running its mobile OS to display “Powered by Android” when they’re turned on. It’s Google’s latest move to take control of its Android ecosystem and its brand in the mobile market.
In less than 3 months, iOS 7 is running on 74% of iPhones, while KitKat is only running on 1% of Android devices after a month.
Google today launched Google Now for iOS, enabling iPhone users to get personalized notifications regarding traffic problems, flight delays and all sorts of other information. That’s undeniably good news for Google, but it also could highlight Android’s longstanding fragmentation problems.
The ACLU has filed a complaint calling for an investigation into carriers’ unwillingness (or inability) to issue regular updates for Android devices. But while fragmentation is clearly a problem for the OS, it also creates an opportunity for anyone who can provide a superior system within the platform.
In May of 2010, I examined the Android fragmentation issue. Is it still a problem? Yes, but based on various Google actions that time, the data shows it’s far less of an issue than it was. And it will always exist under the current licensing model.
Ever since Netflix first went mobile with an iPad app last year, jealous Android users have patiently awaited availability of the online streaming service on their own devices. Well, the wait is finally over — at least for owners of a few select Android handsets.
When it comes to streaming video on connected devices, Netflix may be king, as it is now available on more than 200 different consumer electronics devices. But the one hurdle it still can’t overcome is finding a way to deliver its subscription video service on Android.
Android fragmentation appears to be diminishing, as 58.8 percent of devices that accessed the Android Market in the last two weeks are running either Android 2.1 or 2.2. But there’s another type of Android fragmentation that’s beyond Google’s control: the custom user interfaces from handset makers.
Many laud Google’s Android Market and its loose barriers to application entry, but that doesn’t mean Google should be totally hands off, does it? Some updated applications are disappearing from the Market on certain devices and it’s taking days for Google to even acknowledge the issue.
