I was reading an article today about Android fragmentation and it really is worse then I could have ever imagined. For a while now, I've been saying it's 300+ devices against 1, when it comes to Android/iPhone comparisons. I wasn't even close!
According to this ZDNET article, there are currently 1,443 Android devices in the wild. Holy crap! We're talking hardware and software fragmentation and it's really getting out of control. It seems at first glance, that Google has lost all control of Android, and the people who that affects are the developers. Which is the reason an Android phone's app is not as polished as it's iOS counterparts.
It becomes a huge headache for a dev to not only support the various Android versions that exist (and have little to no chance of being updated), but also to support the thousands of different hardware configurations that exist. Which could explain why Android ROI is pretty much zero for most devs.
The fandroids will often say "Well, Android's sales are going through the roof, so this contradicts what you're saying". No, it really does not. Fragmentation and sales are mutually exclusive. Just because a product sells doesn't mean there is no fragmentation. Surely, the fandroids wouldn't argue that Windows has no fragmentation since it outsells every other computer OS out there, right?
What needs to be done? Well, Google has to pull the reigns in on future devices (it's far too late to go retroactive, now). Meaning, they have to set some sort of standard and actually enforce it when it comes to device updates, and device specifications. I don't know how they could possibly do that though because OEMs release Android phones by the dozen every year. It would be virtually impossible to curb hardware fragmentation.
However, the software battle can still be won. Google has to insist that OEMs update their devices in a timely manner. It's ridiculous to me that 4 months after ICS was released, that it's still only on under 2% of all Android devices. It's simply not acceptable. Android is a great OS, but it needs to be curbed in order to remain successful. You've got 3 models of iPhone outselling all the Android phones, and even combined iPhone has almost as much marketshare as 1,443 devices. There's a reason for that: Stability, reliable updates, customer support and no deluge of iPhone releases each year. When you buy an iPhone you know that you will have software support for 2 years, minimum. With an Android phone, you'd be lucky to get 6 months.
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