27
Apr
150

The Big Android Chart™: A Definitive History of Android Version Adoption

Posted by in Android OS, Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News
Last Updated: April 30th, 2012

Pop quiz: How long does it take for a new version of Android to be widely adopted? A new version of Android comes out, AOSP updates, OEMs adapt it to a myriad of devices, and carriers test the updates. That process. How long does it take?

It's a tough question to answer, mostly because Google doesn't provide data like that. The official site shows a 6 month version history, and that's it. Anyone looking for a decent amount of data is out of luck. There’s no way to view the long journey older Android versions have taken, and no way to see the bigger picture of how the update process eventually works out.

29
Jul
historythumb

Meet Andy: Android’s History In A Nutshell

Posted by in Android OS, Carriers, Cupcake 1.5, Devices By Manufacturer, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Editorials, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, News
Last Updated: November 5th, 2010

Before Apple's iPhone and Google’s Android OS burst onto the mobile device scene in 2007, there were few significant advances in mobile technology. Frankly, "smartphones" (if we could even call them that at the time) were boring: they did little more than email, general messaging, picture taking, some basic apps and games, rudimentary internet browsing, and enterprise integration.

The biggest players at the time were Microsoft Windows Mobile, RIM's Blackberry, Palm, Symbian, and Linux. They all had their respective place in the mobile world (see chart below).

history1

The Status Of Mobile Operating Systems In Late 2006

EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) was clearly led by Symbian.