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Posted on 05/17/2012 9:57:15 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Fragmentation matters to the entire Android community: users, developers, OEMs, brands & networks. It's a blessing and a curse.
The Blessing. Fragmentation allows users to take their pick from thousands of devices. You can choose from phones with 3D screens, projectors, CDMA, GSM, or even CDMA & GSM. You may not care that Tag Heuer has made an Android phone but at least one person does (and they use OpenSignalMaps). It's a triumph for Android that as a single OS it can target so many markets.
The Curse. The proliferation of devices with their associated screen sizes, internal hardware and custom ROMs creates some difficulties. We spend a lot of time making the app presentable (or at less functional) on exotic devices - this is the most common request we get from app users.
The Study. Over the past 6 months we've been logging the new devices that download OpenSignalMaps, we've based this study on 681,900 of these devices. We've looked at model, brand, API level (i.e. the version of Android) and screen size and we've tried to present this in the clearest form we can.
(Excerpt) Read more at opensignalmaps.com ...
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We have lots of Gingerbread, some Froyo, and ~5% ICS on the market today, with Jellybean coming out again this summer.
What I fail to understand it that each new release is not at all backwards compatible with the previous release.
The fragmentation is annoying for those who like to have great devices with the most current OS. Sure, it caters to the “hacker” but they represent a minority.
Couple the fragmentation with the reality that Google makes very little money on Android and you have a model that is not sustainable in the long-term.
That is an issue that Google should be addressing. . . but may have to do with keeping the code as small as possible. Retaining legacy code can cause a large amount of bloat in an OS. Ask Microsoft.
It is better in the Apple iOS world, but still not completely backwardly compatible. A lot has to do with more capability of the hardware that the later OS version will run on. . . but at least in the iOS the OLDER hardware is still supported for the most part, if it can be installed. There does come a time, however, when the older hardware simply cannot handle the upgraded OS. . . but, the SOFTWARE has always run. I have never run into a situation where the software failed to run on the upgraded iOS. . . or an easy upgrade did not take care of the issue.
Aaaaaaaand the phone-buying public does not care.
But please, iOS users, keep entertaining us with our beating of that rotting equine carcass.
Google isn't making much money, the developes are making very little money, and the manufacturers are paying ~$10 royalties to Microsoft for every unit they sell, and it looks like Apple and Oracle may also be getting some royalty money in the not-too-distant future.
We both don't see this model as sustainable for the long-term.
It is an issue that unless some major changes are made soon; the Android model may not survive much longer.
Google isn't making much money on Android. MSFT is getting ~$5/phone in royalty payments. It sounds like both Oracle and Apple may also soon be reaping royalty payments.
It makes one wonder about the long term prospects of Android
Do you have any facts to suggest otherwise, or do you prefer to simply attack Apple users?
First of all, the naming scheme for Android makes me want to stab my eyes out. It reeks of "juvenile".
Ok, pet peeve aside... ICS has only 5% penetration and they're releasing a new major version of the OS this summer? That seems... odd.
They had to name it something, and picking “deserts” as a theme is as good as any other theme. I’ve worked with companies that used the names of Scientists, explorers, rivers of North America, Greek Gods - as long as you pick a class and stay in it - everyone within the company understands. I’ve seen companies (Motorola) that started off with cats, and somehow moved onto bears with the same chip. The managment apparently got distracted by a flashing light or a shiny stone - they were stupid like that.
Apple chose to use cats (leopard, snow leopard, lion, mountain lion, etc. ect.).
But, the part that would concern me if I had a horse in this race is the non-support of legacy product. If you buy a brand new phone today - odds are high that in less than 6 months your phone has been dropped from the support structure.
Now, you can make the update install large, and each phone would only need load the updates that apply to that phone. This is what nVidia did for over a decade. You download 1 update and regardless what video card you had - you got the right drivers updated on your PC.
But, if you have an older phone with Gingerbread - you are stuck with Gingerbread. If you have ICS, the odds are that you will never get JellyBean. This has to be pure havok for any Android developer, in that he not only has to make his app work across various versions of the OS, but also a growing number of different hardware platforms (3,100+ at my last count). Each phone not only has unique chipsets, displays - but also entirely different OS’s.
Google didnt produce Android to make money of of licenses. That is nothing that is a state secret. And many manufactures are making money off of the sale of Android-powered phones or else they wouldn’t be making them. People that buy phones get the features they want for the price point they want.
Those are the basic facts right there. Whether or not stunned iOS users that never imagined that the public would choose Android over an iOS phone in such numbers ever understand that is up in the air.
Did you read the article that the GROWING list of royalty payments being exacted by Microsoft, Oracle and Apple may essentially ‘tax’ the phone manufacturers to the point that Android isn’t practical to make anymore.
Google made Android to supplement their advertizement revenue stream, however it’s not generating the revenue that they had hoped. Google is creating new releases of the OS faster than the manufacturers and Developers can sustain - this is where the Developers are having a rough time.
It has nothing to do with iOS - this is purely an analytical summary of what is going to happen to Android. Apple has nothing to do with this. Google may be a phenominal software company - but they are screwing the pooch with Android. Each of these points is backed up by an article in my previous post.
You have yet to make a case for the sustainability of the Android ecosystem. I don’t see how it can continue as it has.
There you go folks we can't get it because we are all stunned.
Apple is Doomed I tell you.
Start talking reason and stop the fanboy crap. This is not a fanboy issue of iOS, MS, Android, whatever.
The Android model is not sustainable. There have been numerous articles that Google really wants to scrap Android and go with Chrome as the basis for new devices that would be made my Motorola and then, under license, by others.
RIM never could admit their model was not sustainable either.
Start talking reason and stop the fanboy crap. This is not a fanboy issue of iOS, MS, Android, whatever.
Go look at the poster, and then tell me again that wasn’t posted out of anything other than some “fanboy” nonsense.
The whole “fragmentation” issue has been pushed by Android bashing iOS users for the past 2 years in some insane hope that they can convince people that Android is simply too unstable and scary, and that you’d be better off in the arms of an iPhone.
It hasn’t been a significant issue then, and it still isn’t. Now the talk has ratcheted up to how it isnt “sustainable” and profitable or “Google really wants to get rid of Android”. Just more nonsense.
Swordmaker may be an Apple fanboy, but that does not mean that the fragmentation of Android is not an issue. It also does not mean such articles shouldn't be discussed.
This is FR, not DU.
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