Hasta La Gadget!

This doesn’t really bode well for those hoping for some
manner of unity across Google’s open mobile OS. As more and more handsets enter
the market, the operating system is becoming more and more fragmented.

According to the latest numbers from Google’s own Android
Developers site, all signs point to fragmentation. The latest version of
Android, 2.2 Froyo, is installed on 36.2 percent of Android devices. That’s the
number two most widespread version of the software. Android 2.1 Éclair actually
leads the way with 40.8 percent of the market.

Android 1.6 Donut is number three, with 15 percent, and
Android 1.5 Cupcake has 7.9 percent of the market. Devices running a version lower than 1.5, meanwhile, is
somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.5 percent–that number is a good sign, at
least.

Toward that end of the spectrum, Google and the various
hardware manufacturers are doing a pretty good job upgrading operating systems.
The discrepancy between 2.2 and 2.1 usage, on the other hand, leaves some
question regarding their ability to keep things in check–an issue that may well
become all the more pronounced as Gingerbread hits the market…