Froyo & Gingerbread Bury Cupcake & Donut

Google has released an update on what versions of Android are most prevalent and the news is promising.  The days of Cupcake (version 1.5) and Donut (version 1.6) dominating, it looks as though Froyo (version 2.2) and Gingerbread (version 2.3) have taken over the reigns.

Froyo now accounts for the majority of Android devices with a 64.6% share, while Gingerbread is slowly expanding with 9.2%.  With Gingerbread updates scheduled throughout the summer, that number is sure to increase drastically.  What's a little unfortunate is how many devices still run Éclair (version 2.1.)   Since there is no difference in hardware requirements from Éclair to Gingerbread, it's a shame manufacturers have chosen not to upgrade 21.2% of the devices on the market.

In terms of the tablet market, Honeycomb (version 3.0 and 3.1,) is a blip on the radar with less than 1% of total Android devices.  With the selection on Android tablets on the rise and the price of these devices decreasing, we might see a sharp increase in tablet market share.  It may be a bit unfair to compare tablet sales to phone sales as the numbers may never be on the same level.

We know that Google is working on stopping this fragmentation from being such a prevalent issue in the future, but we haven't heard any updates from the Open Handset Alliances since Google I/O. If they make progress and have guidelines in place before the next Android software release, we could see a pie chart that doesn't have quite so many slices.

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