Phandroid: Large 2.1 Adoption Means Maturing Market

One of the things I worried about most about Android isn't the iPhone or whatever else Android's competiors might do. What I worried about most about Android is Android itself.

But with about 50% adoption rate for the latest mainstream release, Android 2.1 is showing a couple of things.

• Android users pay attention.  Pay a lot of attention.
• There are still a lot of carriers and device makers who don't get it.  Fragmentation is still a big issue whether Google admits it or not.

We users are eager to adopt the latest and greatest that Google can dish out but we are still largely at the mercy of 3rd parties whose interests does not coincide with the Android fans. Hence, why I mention the greatest threat to Android is itself (older versions of it).

But of late, I've noticed the pace has picked up by Google's partners in trying to get the latest OS update out. I'm sure Google is twisting a lot of arms what with Apple is doing and possibly like Microsoft gearing up Windows Mobile 7.

And the 50% adoption rate of Android 2.1 does mean that Android users need to be proactive in pressuring wireless providers and developers to work harder with Google to push out the latest features.

We know that Android 2.2 is the latest version. I hope by this fall, most Android devices will ship with 2.2 and if not, 2.2 updates needs to be pushed out once testing is done. There really is no excuse for anyone to see 1.5 or 1.6 on the market anymore.

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