86% of Android devices run on Eclair or Froyo

The statistics shown on Android Developers are quite interesting: it turns out that currently about two-thirds of all devices with Android OS work with Android 2.2 (Froyo). Plus, 21.2% of such devices work with Android 2.1 (Eclair). As you can see, the market for Android devices is updated quite quickly, and the dynamics of the distribution of new versions of this mobile OS is very revealing.

Back in March, Android 2.3 / 2.3.3 was just beginning its ascent, and now it is already working on 9.6% of all android devices. All this means a pleasant opportunity for developers of Android software, when you can just forget about Android support for older versions: 1.5 and 1.6. Now, as you can see in the diagram, these versions work on a very small number of android devices.

True, with the release of each new version of the Android software platform, the market is more and more fragmented. The same Eclair is still widely used, Froyo is still static, and Gingerbread is slowly starting to seize market positions. Plus, you can add two more versions of Honeycomb (3.0 and 3.1), which are “tailored” for tablets, and we get quite a few variations of Android, which you have to remember about supporting when developing the appropriate software.

True, everything should change with the release of Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), which was announced for release in the second half of 2011. That's when Honeycomb and “regular” Android are consolidated into a single version, which will avoid further market fragmentation.

Via Mashable