Limited availability of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS causes concern

Every time Google releases an updated version of Android an issue that has constantly been coming up has been that of fragmentation. Mobile ad network Chitika, after examining the number of impressions it received in recent days, found that the most popular version of Android remains Gingerbread at 66.29 percent, followed by Froyo at 22.33 percent, and Eclair at 5.39 percent.

Honeycomb has managed to capture 3.3 percent of the market share, but OS Ice Cream Sandwich remained divided between the oldest versions of Android: Donut with 0.63 percent share and Cupcake at 0.95 percent share, though the number of Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich is growing slowly. The latest version of Google’s mobile OS is still only available on 1.12 percent of Android-based gadgets.

Google’s own stats released in January have found that approximately 0.6 percent of Android phones were running Ice Cream Sandwich, about 55 percent were running its predecessor, Gingerbread, and 30.4 percent were on Froyo.

Mobile ad network Chitika examined the number of impressions it received in recent days and found that the most popular version of Android remains Gingerbread at 66.29 percent, followed by Froyo at 22.33 percent, and Eclair at 5.39 percent. On Feb 1, these figures sttod at 1 percent of devices were on Ice Cream Sandwich, 58.6 percent were on Gingerbread, and 27.8 percent were on Froyo.

The tablet-centric Honeycomb captured 3.3 percent of the market, but Ice Cream Sandwich was, well, sandwiched between the oldest versions of Android: Donut with 0.63 percent and Cupcake at 0.95 percent.

The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS is only available on a handful of smartphones at this point of time with various manufacturers promising ICS upgrades for their devices, which will happen on here and there basis throughout 2012.