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As Google scrambles to get Android 3.0 out the door, the company’s most-recent iterations of the open-source operating system have combined to comprise 73.8 percent, or almost three-quarters, of the millions of Android handsets on the market.
That’s the latest data according to Google’s Android developer dashboard, which currently counts all active handsets through Oct. 1.
Specifically, Android 2.1 is on 40.4 percent of all Android devices, followed by the latest Android 2.2 Froyo flavor at 33.4 percent.
The Android 2.1 count as of Sept. 1 was 41.7 percent share, so that was a slight change. But through Sept. 1 the Android 2.2 OS stood at 28.7 percent, so clearly it gained almost 5 percentage points.
While a smidgen of the gain came from the vast rolling upgrades of Motorola Droid X, HTC Droid Incredible to Android 2.2, or the purchase of the Android 2.2-based Drid 2, the lion’s share of growth came at the expense of the dinosaur-like OS flavors of Android 1.5 and Android 1.6.
These versions constituted 9.7 percent and 16.4 percent of the market, respectively. Just last month, Android 1.5 ran on 12 percent of devices, while Android 1.6 ran 17.5 percent of units.
So the upgrades to the newest OS remained in full swing through September. And lo, Samsung said today Android 2.2 is now available for the Galaxy S line, which includes T-Mobile’s Captivate, Verizon Wireless’ Fascinate, AT&T’s Captivate and Sprint’s Epic 4G.
I remember when Google launched Android 2.2 to open source. It was at Verizon Wireless Motorola Droid X introduction in Manhattan June 23.
While Froyo served the market well and is still rolling out on smartphones such as Samsung’s Galaxy S series, Android 3.0, or Gingerbread, should be out shortly.
Gingerbread is optimized for tablets (even though the Samsung Galaxy Tab is on Android 2.2), which should make some exciting machines in 2011, if not some surprise entrants this holiday season.
Motorola, Dell, LG, are you listening?