I didn't understand how Google was addressing "fragmentation" until the past few days. It now looks as tho the specific version of Android isn't nearly as important as it once was. They've come up with really a brilliant way of making sure the latest OS features & improvements are available to 98% of current users while still allowing the OEM's to customize the shell or 3rd parties to "fork" the OS for specific uses.
How is that possible? Google Play Services. Read up on it if you're curious.
There are at least two ways to look at fragmentation, thru version number and thru features/functionality. It's already been hashed out here more than once and most of the AI readers seem to prefer the version number metric. Google Play Services matters when using the features/functionality metric.
I didn't understand how Google was addressing "fragmentation" until the past few days. It now looks as tho the specific version of Android isn't nearly as important as it once was. They've come up with really a brilliant way of making sure the latest OS features & improvements are available to 98% of current users while still allowing the OEM's to customize the shell or 3rd parties to "fork" the OS for specific uses.
How is that possible? Google Play Services. Read up on it if you're curious.
I have not read up on this yet, but they still have not solved one of the fundamental problems with getting the OS out to the end users on the various carrier networks which is, the carriers still want the ability to test and approve the various versions prior to release. Remember service providers like VZ still have Android customization that want the cell phone companies to make before they sell it to the public. Not true for Apple, no cell phone company has any say so over apple's release of a new OS.
I had the ability to beta test the 4.1 release on my Motorola work phone and had 6 months prior to it being generally released, however, AT&T would not allow me to update to a final release for 3 months after it was release since they has not yet approved it. This is part of the issue out there since the service provider do not want version out there without their permission since they still have to support Android phone again they do not have that issue with Apple. Google or Motorola do not want you calling them if you have an issue with the phone you have to got to the phone store where you bought it.
I still would like to know what constitutes an "activation". It seems to me that a device can be reactivated multiple times. I have a lot of friends that have had to take their crappy Android phone back to the store and get a replacement. Each one of those is an activation, but all that means is that a device was activated onto a network. Those devices could (and probably are) sitting in a freaking landfill or drawer somewhere and not being used. It's a useless metric. It sounds great, but has no bearing on the health of the ecosystem. What types of Android devices. ANY. That's another problem. That means that any craptastic piece of crap that anyone could possible sell with a bit of Android code on it counts as an activation then?
As a very satisfied repeat customer of Android products, I account for three of those activations as I've had three different Android devices (never had to get a replacement for any of them). That may help you to support your argument for it being a "bullshit number" as your current reasoning isn't very good.
These numbers didn't make sense considering more than half the population can't afford to eat let alone pay for a smartphone. And then factor in the number of children, these figures would mean that pretty much everybody has a smartphone. Then I realized that the typical android user gets a new phone every year, so the number of users is a far different number than activations - about 75% less.
The newest Android OS Kit Kat will only serve to further fragment the mess that is called Android, and the majority of devices sold will probably not even include the newest OS, and many older devices and even many current devices will probably never ever get it. Fandroids are suckers.
Activations are counted using the ID unique to each device. Andy Rubin says that devices are not counted twice when resold or reset.
The problem is that Android devices have an incredibly short lifespan, especially when compared to Apple devices. Many Android devices from 2013 are probably already obsolete. I'm constantly reading about certain Android phones which will not be getting OS updates that they were supposed to get or promised to get.
How many of those supposed one billion Android activations are actually still in use? What is the true figure of actual Android phones out there still in use? I'd wager that that figure is significantly lower than 1 billion, assuming that the 1 billion figure is true and accurate to begin with.
What's the point in bragging about activations? I'd like to know the number of dead, the Android phones that are already in a land fill. When you look up the population of a country, the answer doesn't include the number of dead people, because the dead don't count.
Evidence suggests that the death rate in Androidville is far greater than for Apple iOS devices. Android devices are dying like flies, and I don't see many people wanting to own or use an Android device that's even slightly old. Meanwhile in Apple land, plenty of people are still using older iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches, with many of them having been updated to the latest OS with the devices running as smoothly as ever.
I'm not impressed by one billion activations, especially when a great deal of those activations are comprised of people getting some junky Android phone for free or very little money, usually to go along with some super cheap cell plan. Quantity is not a substitute for quality. And obsolete, dead devices don't impress me either.
According to the BBC article that broke the story no money was exchanged. Which makes sense, I'm sure Nestle is good with all the free advertising and the Googs gets blog posts and free press about how silly they are. Google is an advertising company that does tech in order to advertise to you. In the end, It's all in good fun. I don't see how this is such a horrible thing.
I didn't understand how Google was addressing "fragmentation" until the past few days. It now looks as tho the specific version of Android isn't nearly as important as it once was. They've come up with really a brilliant way of making sure the latest OS features & improvements are available to 98% of current users while still allowing the OEM's to customize the shell or 3rd parties to "fork" the OS for specific uses.
How is that possible? Google Play Services. Read up on it if you're curious.
The most important aspect/definition of fragmentation to me (and I would guess many mobile devs) is API penetration rate and ARPU.
Well, okay...and security feature in the base OS level since I tried to search on this topic (which android version to target) for the last month and all I could find was the statistic that 79% of mobile malware targets Android.
Hence the out of date 2012 metric since I didn't find any late 2013 ARPU numbers. However, if the ARPU numbers still hold then Gingerbread (API 10) is the sweet spot with a 1.20 ARPU and 33% market share according to the dashboard. If I go to API 15 (ICS) then I lose a third of my potential market. If I go to API 17 I lose 93.5% of my potential market.
Google Play Services does not address API or OS level security flaws. Just the allows updates to the core apps that support Googles revenue stream (YouTube, Gmail, etc) and the Google APIs that support those apps. So vulnerabilities in those apps get patched but not the API/OS vulnerabilities that malware apps will use on 2.x devices.
And lord help you if Google Play Services itself ever gets hacked. It has essentially any privileges it deems necessary to do whatever it wants to your phone without asking. Also lord help you if it ends up being buggy because it always runs in the background. Watch that battery life crater if it doesn't want to sleep correctly on your phone.
It does help me as a dev if the new API I want to use is part of GPS but not for the code application framework APIs, hardware APIs or security APIs. But an API 10 device + GPS is still mostly a API 10 device if I'm not using google services (maps, account auth, google+ stuff, etc) heavily in my app. Button Bar, notification panel, lock screen, etc is all still API 10.
That's not to say this isn't a huge improvement...account authorization and in-app billing is very important as are the location and games APIs...but it doesn't really change the fragmentation story until all the 2.x devices are history. I still wont target above API 10 till that happens.
With respect to the iOS fragmentation, it matters more to users than developers whether they get Siri or not. I still get to target the latest API version in iOS and cover the majority of the iPhone market. The remaining few percentage points probably have lousy ARPU numbers anyway.
For folks keeping track, GPS is closed source and essentially Google just forked Android into a closed source architecture. No more free ride for Amazon. Or Samsung for that matter if they ever play hardball with Google. Sorry, you're not a Google branded/approved device. GPS wont run on your android and without it, half the APIs are gone...
Actually, in Germany we have a word called "fremdschämen" which basically means you're embarrassed on behalf of some else's behavior. Like in this case.
It's been my experience that no matter what the topic is, there is often a single German word to describe it. :smokey:
No, it's more like Kit-Kat approached them and said "How much money would it take for you to make the next Android version ..." etc.
Rather, whoever Kit Kat's direct competitor is paid them huge sums of money to tank Kit Kat's name.
Originally Posted by Anome
So Google are now in bed with Nestle? Are they still claiming not to be evil?
What's evil about Nestle?
Originally Posted by stylorouge
Day and night in speed screen estate. My Iphone 5 can't compete with my nexus 4 quad core 2 gigs of ram. Plus I find it is really smart to use KitKat as a name. My next tablet will be also an android LG G tablet. I also prefer the look of Jelly bean over iOS 7. I would love if Apple could make a 4.7 Iphone quad or octa core. Maybe iPhone 6 let's hope.
Just go away.
Originally Posted by Euphonious
This thread is truly the zenith of pointlessness. Don't you lot have anything better to do all day than whine about Google on the internet? I thought this was supposed to be an Apple news site rather than the home of the Google hate mob?
Come off it. You know what they've done. You want namby-pamby Google licking, go to an Android site.
Addendum: Also, great, Huddler. Just when I'd re-gotten used to your old editor after having to get used to the BBCode editor…
Comments
I didn't understand how Google was addressing "fragmentation" until the past few days. It now looks as tho the specific version of Android isn't nearly as important as it once was. They've come up with really a brilliant way of making sure the latest OS features & improvements are available to 98% of current users while still allowing the OEM's to customize the shell or 3rd parties to "fork" the OS for specific uses.
How is that possible? Google Play Services. Read up on it if you're curious.
I have not read up on this yet, but they still have not solved one of the fundamental problems with getting the OS out to the end users on the various carrier networks which is, the carriers still want the ability to test and approve the various versions prior to release. Remember service providers like VZ still have Android customization that want the cell phone companies to make before they sell it to the public. Not true for Apple, no cell phone company has any say so over apple's release of a new OS.
I had the ability to beta test the 4.1 release on my Motorola work phone and had 6 months prior to it being generally released, however, AT&T would not allow me to update to a final release for 3 months after it was release since they has not yet approved it. This is part of the issue out there since the service provider do not want version out there without their permission since they still have to support Android phone again they do not have that issue with Apple. Google or Motorola do not want you calling them if you have an issue with the phone you have to got to the phone store where you bought it.
Appropriate! A cheap wheat biscuit with some chocolate sprayed on top. Not what you'd call fine chocolate. Perfect for Android, though.
Just wait until we get to "L"...
Android Lavatory... for those who want a phone fit for the crapper.
(oh, spare me the lecture Android lovers)
I still would like to know what constitutes an "activation". It seems to me that a device can be reactivated multiple times. I have a lot of friends that have had to take their crappy Android phone back to the store and get a replacement. Each one of those is an activation, but all that means is that a device was activated onto a network. Those devices could (and probably are) sitting in a freaking landfill or drawer somewhere and not being used. It's a useless metric. It sounds great, but has no bearing on the health of the ecosystem. What types of Android devices. ANY. That's another problem. That means that any craptastic piece of crap that anyone could possible sell with a bit of Android code on it counts as an activation then?
I'm just saying it's a bullshit number.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/27/2827545/andy-rubin-850k-android-activations-a-day-300m-total-devices-12m
Activations are counted using the ID unique to each device. Andy Rubin says that devices are not counted twice when resold or reset.
These numbers didn't make sense considering more than half the population can't afford to eat let alone pay for a smartphone. And then factor in the number of children, these figures would mean that pretty much everybody has a smartphone. Then I realized that the typical android user gets a new phone every year, so the number of users is a far different number than activations - about 75% less.
The newest Android OS Kit Kat will only serve to further fragment the mess that is called Android, and the majority of devices sold will probably not even include the newest OS, and many older devices and even many current devices will probably never ever get it. Fandroids are suckers.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5457
There's more than one kind of fragmentation.
No, it's more like Kit-Kat approached them and said "How much money would it take for you to make the next Android version ..." etc.
Google director of Android global partnerships first called Nestle about the name in late November of 2012.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/3/4691040/android-kitkat-the-story-behind-a-delicious-partnership
http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/27/2827545/andy-rubin-850k-android-activations-a-day-300m-total-devices-12m
Activations are counted using the ID unique to each device. Andy Rubin says that devices are not counted twice when resold or reset.
The problem is that Android devices have an incredibly short lifespan, especially when compared to Apple devices. Many Android devices from 2013 are probably already obsolete. I'm constantly reading about certain Android phones which will not be getting OS updates that they were supposed to get or promised to get.
How many of those supposed one billion Android activations are actually still in use? What is the true figure of actual Android phones out there still in use? I'd wager that that figure is significantly lower than 1 billion, assuming that the 1 billion figure is true and accurate to begin with.
What's the point in bragging about activations? I'd like to know the number of dead, the Android phones that are already in a land fill. When you look up the population of a country, the answer doesn't include the number of dead people, because the dead don't count.
Evidence suggests that the death rate in Androidville is far greater than for Apple iOS devices. Android devices are dying like flies, and I don't see many people wanting to own or use an Android device that's even slightly old. Meanwhile in Apple land, plenty of people are still using older iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches, with many of them having been updated to the latest OS with the devices running as smoothly as ever.
I'm not impressed by one billion activations, especially when a great deal of those activations are comprised of people getting some junky Android phone for free or very little money, usually to go along with some super cheap cell plan. Quantity is not a substitute for quality. And obsolete, dead devices don't impress me either.
I was would exactly the same way Apple does when an iPhone user moves to a different platform.
I can't think of a candy bar that looks more fragmented. Good choice Android!
Here you go Google. Found the name for your next Android release:
I didn't understand how Google was addressing "fragmentation" until the past few days. It now looks as tho the specific version of Android isn't nearly as important as it once was. They've come up with really a brilliant way of making sure the latest OS features & improvements are available to 98% of current users while still allowing the OEM's to customize the shell or 3rd parties to "fork" the OS for specific uses.
How is that possible? Google Play Services. Read up on it if you're curious.
The most important aspect/definition of fragmentation to me (and I would guess many mobile devs) is API penetration rate and ARPU.
http://adtmag.com/articles/2012/11/02/android-version-developers.aspx
Well, okay...and security feature in the base OS level since I tried to search on this topic (which android version to target) for the last month and all I could find was the statistic that 79% of mobile malware targets Android.
Hence the out of date 2012 metric since I didn't find any late 2013 ARPU numbers. However, if the ARPU numbers still hold then Gingerbread (API 10) is the sweet spot with a 1.20 ARPU and 33% market share according to the dashboard. If I go to API 15 (ICS) then I lose a third of my potential market. If I go to API 17 I lose 93.5% of my potential market.
Google Play Services does not address API or OS level security flaws. Just the allows updates to the core apps that support Googles revenue stream (YouTube, Gmail, etc) and the Google APIs that support those apps. So vulnerabilities in those apps get patched but not the API/OS vulnerabilities that malware apps will use on 2.x devices.
And lord help you if Google Play Services itself ever gets hacked. It has essentially any privileges it deems necessary to do whatever it wants to your phone without asking. Also lord help you if it ends up being buggy because it always runs in the background. Watch that battery life crater if it doesn't want to sleep correctly on your phone.
It does help me as a dev if the new API I want to use is part of GPS but not for the code application framework APIs, hardware APIs or security APIs. But an API 10 device + GPS is still mostly a API 10 device if I'm not using google services (maps, account auth, google+ stuff, etc) heavily in my app. Button Bar, notification panel, lock screen, etc is all still API 10.
That's not to say this isn't a huge improvement...account authorization and in-app billing is very important as are the location and games APIs...but it doesn't really change the fragmentation story until all the 2.x devices are history. I still wont target above API 10 till that happens.
With respect to the iOS fragmentation, it matters more to users than developers whether they get Siri or not. I still get to target the latest API version in iOS and cover the majority of the iPhone market. The remaining few percentage points probably have lousy ARPU numbers anyway.
For folks keeping track, GPS is closed source and essentially Google just forked Android into a closed source architecture. No more free ride for Amazon. Or Samsung for that matter if they ever play hardball with Google. Sorry, you're not a Google branded/approved device. GPS wont run on your android and without it, half the APIs are gone...
This thread is truly the zenith of pointlessness. Don't you lot have anything better to do all day than whine about Google on the internet?
I thought this was supposed to be an Apple news site rather than the home of the Google hate mob?
It's been my experience that no matter what the topic is, there is often a single German word to describe it. :smokey:
No, it's more like Kit-Kat approached them and said "How much money would it take for you to make the next Android version ..." etc.
Rather, whoever Kit Kat's direct competitor is paid them huge sums of money to tank Kit Kat's name.
So Google are now in bed with Nestle? Are they still claiming not to be evil?
What's evil about Nestle?
Just go away.
Come off it. You know what they've done. You want namby-pamby Google licking, go to an Android site.
Addendum: Also, great, Huddler. Just when I'd re-gotten used to your old editor after having to get used to the BBCode editor…