Not quite an accurate description.
Consider, until almost 6 months ago - Netflix didn't work on many different Android phones. Simply said, there are over 20+ different processors, at least that many chipsets, and who knows how many screen resolutions to support. Different basebands, different graphical processors, different memory sizes, timings and technologies. Now, we have a mix of Android operating systems, ranging from the current 4.0 (ICS) to Gingerbread and even FroYo out there - some are new and supported; many that are not being supported.
So far, there are 3 Android distributions out in the wild; some are upgradable, others are not. We have different chipsets, processors, memory configurations and screen resolutions - yet, there is an expectation that all applications will work equally well, across all Android phones. We are seeing that this is not the case - at least we have seen this in the past. That is what we mean by fragmentation.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to get into a pissing contest over what phones had 6 months ago and what phones still don’t have now.
The fact that Android runs on so many different processors, resolutions, etc is a strength, not a weakness.
I’ll also point out that not all iOS apps work with every version of iOS in the wild, nor do they all work on all iOS devices.
Carriers and manufacturers have made some really dumb decisions with updating Android for their customers. Apple, on the other hand, has been quite good about it. But just like any desktop computer, if you aren’t happy with what’s on it currently, you can simply install something that suits you better. And it really isn’t that hard to do so.
Like I said before, if you want to give up your freedom of choice to let Apple choose for you, that’s fine with me. However, I don’t choose to do that any longer.