NEW YORK: The newest edition of Google’s Android Developers Dashboard reveals a 3.3 percent share for Android 5.0. That percentage takes into account all the Android devices that hit the Google Play store during the seven-day period ending Monday and is up from the 1.6 percent recorded by Lollipop a month ago.
As always, the latest flavour of Google’s mobile OS takes time to gain traction among mobile devices. That’s because the road from Google to Android users is a long and rocky one. Before a new version of Android can reach you, mobile phone makers must test it both internally and through a small group of target users. Testing and actual rollouts then kick off region by region. Mobile carriers must also put the OS through its paces to make sure it meets their requirements. And all of this has to be done for each individual Android device.
Some Android device vendors, such as Motorola, got off to a quick start in rolling out Lollipop shortly after Google launched it last November. Others have been slower. Even Google itself ran into trouble pushing out Lollipop onto certain Nexus devices due to technical issues. But more mobile carriers have been starting to update specific devices to version 5.0 across the world.
Among all the existing versions of Android, Jelly Bean still leads the pack with an overall share of 42.6 percent. But KitKat is catching up with a 40.9 percent chunk and is likely to overtake its predecessor over the next month. Older versions continue to see their shares dwindle. Ice Cream Sandwich dripped off a share of 5.9 percent, while Gingerbread took home a 6.9 percent piece of the pie.
