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Apple Highlights Low Fragmentation Among iOS Devices in Direct Jab at Android

Dmunjal said:
Fragmentation hasn't hurt Windows. And it hasn't Android.
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I would say fragmentation is the "Internet Explorer 6" of Android.

Internet Explorer 6 doesn't support many features that are necessary for modern websites, but it just refused to die and make room for better browsers.

As it is the standard browser in Windows XP and many users don't care about upgrading or can't upgrade (PCs in workplaces), this lead to fragmentation of browser features and many web developers had to do extra work to get their sites running on IE6.

This kind of fragmentation is now also visible in Android, with more than a third of devices not ready to use the many improvements that Android 4.0 has for users AND developers of apps.

And as one of the most important apps - the browser - is not compatible with versions below Android 4.0, we have the IE6-situation again.

Google started development of Google Chrome in the past to make sure that everybody has access to a browser that supports all the newest web technologies, so people would be able to use all the new Google web services.

And now the users of a Google product are unable to have the best web surfing experience (and compatibility) possible.


As i already mentioned, there are more people running iOS who are able to use Google Now now than people running Android 4.1 and higher who would be able to use it.


Android feels like a test environment for interesting new features, that only few people will actually be able to use until a year after the Android version containing this feature has been released.

When Google wants a large number of users, they need to go "iPhone first", because that's where the highest number of possible users is, not Android.


When your competitors platform is the one that earns you the most money (ad impressions for Google, Microsoft making more on patent licensing fees for Android than with Windows Phone 7 - and probably also WP8), you have a problem.
 
Toltepeceno said:
We have 3 sgs2's that came out in 2011 that are running jellybean. Not custom rom's, legitimate updates.
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The SGS2/3/4/x is the Android model that has probably the highest sales, is the most well known and also the most expensive.

Dropping support for that would have been like flipping the customers the bird.

But what if you bought the Galaxy S Advance at the same time, the slightly improved 2011 model of the SGS1?

Or if you bought the Galaxy Ace 2, on of the lower end models by Samsung?
Users of the Ace 2 just got Android 4.1 (don't know the exact version) a few weeks ago - after more than a YEAR running outdated Android 2.3.

Hey, if we just look at possible security problems in Android 2.3 and ignore the features that would have improved usability in 4.0+ - an update that is released after over a year is pointless, because all banking information will already have been stolen via malware by that time.

The iPhone 4 will get iOS 7 the same moment as the 4S and the iPhone 5, a week after the new iPhone will be announced but even a few days before it is released.


When Google announces Android 4.3 or 5.0 (and releases it for the Nexus models), it will take Samsung months to port that to the Galaxy S3 and i doubt that it will ever be released on the SGS2.

Android 4.1.2 will probably be the last official release that gets ported to the Galaxy S2. That version has been released in October of 2012 and it's outdated since November 13 2012 - the day Android 4.2 was released.

The iPhone 4S, released a few months after the Galaxy S2 will get iOS 7 on some Wednesday in September of 2013, it will - if we look to the past and see how Apple supported the 3GS and iPhone 4 - also get iOS8 in Summer/Fall of 2014 and the final release to support the iPhone 4S will probably be some iOS 8.1.X sometime in Spring of 2015.
At that point, your Galaxy S 2 will run a version of Android from Fall 2012.
 
Toltepeceno said:
We have 3 sgs2's that came out in 2011 that are running jellybean. Not custom rom's, legitimate updates.
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Like the previous comment said.... the Samsung Galaxy SII was a very popular phone. In fact... all the flagship Samsung Galaxy S models... and phones like the HTC One... are the phones we always hear about on tech blogs. Those kinds of phones tend to get updates.

But what about the hundreds of lesser-known Android phones on sale right now across the globe? Or maybe a thousand Android models sold within the last couple of years?

That's where it falls apart.

Look... some of those companies barely made any money when they sold you the phone in the first place.

Do you think they're gonna take extra time to make the next version of Android available for a free upgrade? I doubt it.

Again... I'm not talking about the Samsungs, LGs and HTCs of the world. I'm talking about all those cheap Android phones from companies you've never heard of.

If all those crappy phones are used to boost Android's market share numbers... they also have to be included in Android's fragmentation numbers.

Hundreds of millions of phones were sold with Gingerbread... and that's where they stayed... forever.

The good news is... many phones today are finally being sold brand new running Ice Cream Sandwich. Hooray!

The bad news is... that OS is between 15-20 months old today. Awww....
 
SILen(e said:
The SGS2/3/4/x is the Android model that has probably the highest sales, is the most well known and also the most expensive.

Dropping support for that would have been like flipping the customers the bird.

But what if you bought the Galaxy S Advance at the same time, the slightly improved 2011 model of the SGS1?

Or if you bought the Galaxy Ace 2, on of the lower end models by Samsung?
Users of the Ace 2 just got Android 4.1 (don't know the exact version) a few weeks ago - after more than a YEAR running outdated Android 2.3.

Hey, if we just look at possible security problems in Android 2.3 and ignore the features that would have improved usability in 4.0+ - an update that is released after over a year is pointless, because all banking information will already have been stolen via malware by that time.

The iPhone 4 will get iOS 7 the same moment as the 4S and the iPhone 5, a week after the new iPhone will be announced but even a few days before it is released.


When Google announces Android 4.3 or 5.0 (and releases it for the Nexus models), it will take Samsung months to port that to the Galaxy S3 and i doubt that it will ever be released on the SGS2.

Android 4.1.2 will probably be the last official release that gets ported to the Galaxy S2. That version has been released in October of 2012 and it's outdated since November 13 2012 - the day Android 4.2 was released.

The iPhone 4S, released a few months after the Galaxy S2 will get iOS 7 on some Wednesday in September of 2013, it will - if we look to the past and see how Apple supported the 3GS and iPhone 4 - also get iOS8 in Summer/Fall of 2014 and the final release to support the iPhone 4S will probably be some iOS 8.1.X sometime in Spring of 2015.
At that point, your Galaxy S 2 will run a version of Android from Fall 2012.
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The difference being that most Android phones cost far less than an iPhone and if I buy something at a lower price I expect less. There also is no incentive for the Android manufacturers to keep the versions up to date as no App store to manage, in my view this is the biggest downfall of Android but its a price you pay for cheap.
 
Dmunjal said:
Exactly. Also why isn't Apple advertising the fact that millions are still using Windows XP which came out 10 years ago? Maybe this whole fragmentation issue is really meaningless?
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Well, a large part of the reason they are still using windows xp is because they have been given no compelling reason to upgrade. Plenty of software that these companies rely on isn't compatible (unless running compatibility mode, but then what's the point?) with newer iterations of Windows.

I get your point though. Apple beats the fragmentation drum because it's the only drum they can REALLY beat. Same goes for other companies that try and rip into iOS. It's each and every company's job to try and point out why THEY are better.
 
And then….

captain kaos said:
After going from Apple to Android and then back to Apple within the last few months i can say most of this fragmentation is not just down to the consumer. With vodafone in Australia, i was waiting for the Jelly bean release, and it went back and forth with voda and samsung. The release came out, then there was a contacts bug, then it got taken off the update path for a fix, voda said they couldnt do anything as it went back to samsung, etc etc. Then when the big fix came out voda had to re test it, then when they were happy it was pushed out to a select number of people.

All in i think i got jelly been 4.1.2 just before xmas last year, which is months after a nexus release. The amount of going back and forth with google (android), samsung, then the carrier was ridiculous, so its not surprising some people are sitting on old OS versions.
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And when the update came, it crippled the battery life and the wifi keeps dropping out (Galaxy Note 1). Android may have a lot of bells and whistles, but that is also a weakness.
 
I dont keep my phones longer than 2 years so fragmentation is not an issue, I will get at least the next OS update and probably the next one also, all the main Google apps are updated regular so TBH, it's a non issue. The only people who seem bothered about fragmentation are those without an Android phone or members of boards like this.
 
daveathall said:
I dont keep my phones longer than 2 years so fragmentation is not an issue, I will get at least the next OS update and probably the next one also, all the main Google apps are updated regular so TBH, it's a non issue. The only people who seem bothered about fragmentation are those without an Android phone or members of boards like this.
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And of course the developers which is why android apps are lower quality than ios apps.
 
Can't get iOS 4 apps

I think the reason for that is that we can't get older version of apps, like iOS 4
 
This thread is most interesting, with every mobile "expert" adding their style to the mix. As a Senior UX Designer, my 2 cents at a "Captain Obvious" level:

1) Yes Android is fragment, if you say otherwise you're dismissing the facts of when you test a build for Android I tend to test on 15+ devices, on iOS 3.

2) Android and iOS both have pluses and minuses. I HATE developing for Android though I prefer to use a Nexus4 over an iPhone5.

3) Android is a completely different beast to iOS. If iOS were available via 3rd party vender then I would consider the comparison is more even keel.
 
Macrolido said:
My Gosh! who dubbed those Android codenames?
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Yeah someone must have been eating those items when they said hey wait, let's call the new OS Blah Blah...lol

Kind of cool names, but I mean there really should not be any devices running anything older then 2.3 GB and some new devices have GB as there default OS, what is up with that?

Who wants to buy a new device with an old OS anyway, besides carriers are a big reason some ppl are using old OS, they take way too long to test the new OS and release it, one reason I have avoided Android.

I think Google is trying to force them now to allow upgrades sooner with the release of the Samsung S4 for Google with Pure Android, and the HTC One coming to Google.

I am on AT&T and until I can get an Android device without paying full price and all that crappy bloatware and inability to get the fresh OS, I will stick with my IP5
 
Cloudane said:
It's not the 100% ideal scenario for developers, but millions of them seem to be coping alright with the numerous versions of Microsoft Windows!
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Windows get in an update in... what, 3 or 4 years? Compare that to iOS or Android or even OSX which gets an major update almost once a year.
 
This Will Soon Change

This will surely split in half as soon as iOS7 arrives since it does not support a huge number of apple devices that I doubt people will quickly upgrade out of.
 
pirg said:
And of course the developers which is why android apps are lower quality than ios apps.
Click to expand...

I use the same apps on my S4 as I did on my iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S and 5 and find their quality to be on a par. Are you a Android app developer? If so your argument would of course be valid and I would defer to your greater knowledge.
 
daveathall said:
I use the same apps on my S4 as I did on my iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S and 5 and find their quality to be on a par. Are you a Android app developer? If so your argument would of course be valid and I would defer to your greater knowledge.
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No I am not but that's doesn't disqualify me on speaking on the subject. Surveys show, and android devs who post here have also said, that fragmentation is a big problem to them.

you don't need to be an android dev to realize why it could be a problem. Just look at the different APIs that are introduced with each release and couple that with the hundreds of hardware differences from phone to phone and its pretty obvious that developing for android is not as easy as on ios.

And of course the ROI between the two is not even comparable.
 
pirg said:
No I am not but that's doesn't disqualify me on speaking on the subject. Surveys show, and android devs who post here have also said, that fragmentation is a big problem to them.

you don't need to be an android dev to realize why it could be a problem. Just look at the different APIs that are introduced with each release and couple that with the hundreds of hardware differences from phone to phone and its pretty obvious that developing for android is not as easy as on ios.

And of course the ROI between the two is not even comparable.
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Have you got links to these surveys or the posts of the developers that say it is a problem? And specifically making the apps "lower quality" as stated in your first post? Have you had a flagship Android phone recently?
 
groovyd said:
This will surely split in half as soon as iOS7 arrives since it does not support a huge number of apple devices that I doubt people will quickly upgrade out of.
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How many iPhone 3GS's do you think were sold and are still in active use?

I'd estimate around 40-50 million were sold. Compared to around 700 million iOS devices that will likely be sold by the time iOS 7 is released.
 
topper24hours said:
Brilliant! Excellent post. In a nutshell, you simply CANNOT compare desktop OS to mobile OS. I appreciated you putting it in layman's terms. Hopefully this really enlightens others on this forum.
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AND the vendors are the ones deliberately holding back their users. Deliberately! The spasm of planned obsolescence in the mobile phone market is going to be the end of their larger market if they are not careful. Also the 'no lifeguard at the Android app-pool' is alienating many users too.

Sure, the Apple App Store and their iOS devices are rather locked down. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't need to hobble the best mobile phone I've ever owned by jail breaking it to feel some camaraderie with the Android user. I like that the iPhone works. I feel sorry for the users I hear complaining about their issues with Android. If they only knew, and would chill... Technology should be a tool to make our lives better, not a collar and chain dealt out from vendors hoping you will buy the latest phone to get the latest OS. What a racket...
 
daveathall said:
Seems that survey is quite loaded to show what it wants as an outcome. But thanks for the link. :)
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Loaded how? Ignore the subjective "little problem, big problem, huge problem"and note that when given only one option for "not a problem at all" only 14% choose that option.

Developing for android is a headache and that should be obvious even without these surveys.
 
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