Android Market Share Numbers Show Version 2.1 Growth

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Fragmentation among different versions of Android has been a hot topic in the mobile phone space – and often the Achilles’ Heel of any Android fanboy engaged in furious debate with an iPhone fanboy. However, recent data from Google shows that the recent Android 2.1 is now being used by 50% of Android users, and is being adapted quickly.

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Yes – this information is from Google. They’re basing it on information gathered from the Android Market. But considering it’s from the horse’s mouth, take it as you would take Apple’s iPhone sales numbers. As you can see above, 50% of users now use Android 2.1, with the other half mostly divided between Android 1.5 and 1.6.

Other market share studies from places like AdMob (that aren’t that old) recently showed that Android 2.1, 1.6 and 1.5 all shared a third of Android users. Is Android 2.1 rapidly gaining market share? Remember that the Motorola Droid – the most popular Android device in the US – was recently given Android 2.1, so that could account for the big migration towards Android 2.1.

Google themselves seemed concerned about fragmentation, as they’ve limited new Android updates to once a year. Andy Rubin, Android chief, said that Android 2.2 “Froyo” would be the version that ended fragmentation – but that stands to be a tall order as Android 2.x contains some hardware intensive features (like those pesky live wallpapers).

Is Android Fragmentation a problem? We’ll let you debate that in blog comments and message boards across the net – but if Google is to be believed, the Android userbase seems to be adapting to Android 2.1, right on schedule.