Android distribution numbers hold steady, Honeycomb still under 2%

When last we saw the distribution of the various Android versions, Gingerbread had nearly cracked 40% of the worldwide Android platform. This month it’s passed it, taking 43.9% and inching closer to the still-dominant Froyo. Android 2.2 is still running on just over half of all Android devices, nearly eleven months after Gingerbread’s release. Android’s tablet OS Honeycomb barely increased to 1.9%, up just two tenths of a percent in a month.

With the imminent release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which plays nice on both smartphone and tablet platforms, Honeycomb seems to be the odd man out. There’s still almost as many non-Honeycomb tablets being sold as there are which run Google’s tablet software, no doubt because the source code for Honeycomb still hasn’t been made availalble. At this point, it probably never will. Makers of cheap Android tablets or those who don’t wish to meet Google’s strict requirements for Honeycomb must use an earlier version.
Speaking of Ice Cream Sandwich, the few Galaxy Nexus phones that are out in the wild aren’t enough to make an impact on the chart. It’s likely to stay that way for a while, too, with the Galaxy Nexus launching in late November at the earliest and only a few official Ice Cream Sandwich devices even rumored for 2011. Don’t expect ICS to make any sort of significant showing in the monthly charts until well into 2012.

Asus’ new Transformer Prime will probably still be rocking Honeycomb when it’s released, and HTC’s new flagship phone the Rezound will be released with Gingerbread on November 14th. HTC isn’t planning on updating the phone to Ice Cream Sandwich until early 2012. Most other manufacturers probably won’t be any faster, though Motorola has promised a six week turnaround after the source code is made available.

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Tags: Android Stats,Honeycomb