Two-year-old Android phone receives 15-month-old software update

http://twitter.com/jjkritner Josh Kritner

Product loyalty… This is what Apple “gets” better than most. Many OEMs seem to think that offering an update to an old device means that they lose a new sale, when all they’re really doing is opening the door for a competitor. Wonder if it comes from being a software developer too? Will be interesting to see how Google supports the newer Nexus devices.

http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

LMBO!

Glad to see 4.0+ is getting closer to 50% (at 42.6%) but definitely want to see things like this resolved.

http://twitter.com/gorskiegangsta Agarun Ilyaguyev

…and both ICS and JB combined (at 42.8%) are “outpaced” by 25 month old Gingerbread (at 45.4%). Considering how many hundreds of millions of Android devices are out there, it means that a considerable portion of newly released devices still come preloaded with Gingerbread, which is beyond sad.
- http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
  
  Yeah, for real. It is a sad situation I hope Google solves really soon.
  
  I wouldn’t say devices are being released w/ GB anymore but older models are definitely still being sold.

http://twitter.com/fraydog Ryan Fraley

Verizon deserves to be laughed at here at as much as Google or Android does.

GFYantiapplezealots

Android phones are the new feature phones. People come in to get a new phone, and all that’s there are cheap android phones so they pick it up.

But all they do with it is makes calls and text, just like they did on their old feature phone. They don’t purchase apps, they don’t browse the web, they don’t use their smartphone like a smartphone. I doubt most of these people care which version of Android they have.

http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

Any data to back up those claims?
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Sebastian-Paul/1186812355 Sebastian Paul
  
  All the web usage statistics with Apple having a significantly higher usage percentage than Android, even though Android has much higher sales.
  
  App sales…
  
  And of course anecdotes like how you see way more iPhones in the subway than Androids – and i’m living in Germany, where Android has an even higher percentages of sales than in the US.
  
  From the release of the iPad until now, i have seen maybe 3 or 4 non-Apple tablets (one of these devices (GT7) at a symposium of tech savvy librarians – with 5+ other people having an iPad 1) and countless iPads.
  - http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
    
    Web usage is relative. You can’t use that at all as a baseline because one group uses devices differently than the other and, furthermore, what does that even matter? I don’t see the draw to web usage other than it being a +1 in the #winning column for iOS.
    
    Anecdotes purely mean for that specific moment, in your specific location you saw more iOS devices. I rarely see a 5 (was shocked to see one two weeks ago at Chik-fil-a) but I know they sold like hotcakes! The same goes for iPads. I see a TON of tablets but rarely do I see people with iPads in the wild.
    
    None of that means I think the iPad #’s are false or proves Android #’s. It just means that’s what I saw in my area at that time, nothing more.
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Sebastian-Paul/1186812355 Sebastian Paul
      
      Web usage IS THE main trackable factor that defines a smartphone. Other factors are app-usage and usage for other things that a feature phone can’t do.
      
      iOS and iPhone is leading in the web usage, even though fewer units are sold.
      
      That means with LESS devices in the hands of users, MORE traffic is generated.
      
      Saying that different groups of users use devices differently is ignorant to the post you replied to, because GFYantiapplezealots said exactly that – he said that all statistics are indicating that Android users aren’t using their devices to do smartphone-stuff.
      
      Which means they are using them for… what else?
      
      They buy them, the higher (sold devices) marketshare of Android shows that – but why aren’t they using them as much as the average iPhone user does?
      
      Because it is very likely that they use those devices like a featurephone.
      
      Why are sales of iOS apps higher than sales of Android apps, when there are more Android devices in the hands of users? Or are they in cupboards?
      
      More anecdotes: The iPhone 3G i bought in 2009 is now being used by a friend of my girlfriend, the Galaxy 5700 i bought in 2010 to be able to know what i am talking about when i talk about Android is lying in a cupboard, because it is less usable than an iPhone 3G with iOS 4.2.1.
      
      So sales don’t equal usage.
      
      Oh, and the Lumia 710 i got my father when his old dumbphone broke counts as a sale for Windows Phone 7 – but he’s using it like a feature phone (well, more like a dumbphone…) while i am using my iPhone 5 like a smartphone.
      
      If you would look only at the marketshare of smartphones in use in MY FAMILY and had to decide for which OS to develop your app – you would see an Android device, an iPhone and a Windows Phone 7 device.
      
      If you would look at web usage, app usage and spent money on apps – iPhone would win by a huge margin.
      
      Don’t look at the sales to declare some OS the “winner” – look at what people are using those devices for.
    - http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
      
      1) You have no way of tracking app usage consistently since apps use many different tracking methods or none at all.
      
      2) Web usage does not define a smartphone. Great web access is solely a feature of a smartphone.
      
      3) It is likely users use devices as feature phones but there is no proof to this. It is conjecture and merely a possible explanation.
      
      As for devices, my iPhone 3G is sitting in my desk along with an Evo 3G, Galaxy Nexus, and iPhone 4S. Only the Evo and iPhone 3G are there ’cause of uselessness. My point: different strokes.
      
      As for family, I helped my mother-n-law w/ a Windows Phone (she loves it) and she barely uses anything beyond email, phone, music, and her bible app.
      
      Is her phone less of a smartphone? Is my dads iPhone 3Gs more of a smartphone because he plays games on it or less because he NEVERS goes to his browser (doesn’t even know what Safari is)?
- gjgustav
  
  It’s everywhere. Apple makes most of the profit in the industry, and well if people aren’t buying apps or using the web, what are they doing with them?
  - http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
    
    Apple usage, profit, or app sales has no bearing on how Android users use their devices.
    - gjgustav
      
      No, but the share compared to Android, when contrasted with sales estimates have huge bearing.
      
      Now answer the question: if people aren’t buying apps or using the web on Android (which studies show they aren’t) what are they doing with them.
    - http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
      
      I’ll first answer with a question: who is providing you these studies?
      
      As an answer to the second, how about reading, listening to music, playing games, and Facebook (the app)?
    - gjgustav
      
      Studies are everywhere. You are free to ignore or read them.
      
      I suppose it’s possible that there is a huge percentage of android users that read, listen to music, play free games (not paid ones), and facebook, but completely avoid anything that is measurable by a third party. Yeah, that must be it.
    - http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
      
      I have read them and they come from individual companies basing it on data they collect, not an entire snapshot of the entire landscape. They are guestimates of the entire landscape, which are great if you take them as that, based on the data they have available.
      
      I didn’t say they completely avoid or play only free games. I merely provided alternates to what they’re doing since you think web usage is the absolute best stat to determine how the market looks.
      
      Just look at the Play store and you’ll find plenty of games with 100k – 500k installs and even in the millions: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.namcowireless.flightcontrol&feature=top-paid#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDIwNiwiY29tLm5hbWNvd2lyZWxlc3MuZmxpZ2h0Y29udHJvbCJd. Paid games. Real money.

http://twitter.com/LowTechAbuse Peter Gowen

My obsolete Android-based MP3 player will finally be up-to-years-ago-dated?! HELL YEAH!