Latest Android Platform Stats Show KitKat up to 2.5%, Jelly Bean Hovering at 62.5%, and Gingerbread Down to 19%

If you’re an application developer, understanding the demographics of your potential users is of utmost importance. Naturally, you’ll want to know about their preferences when developing certain features. However, it’s often just as important to know what versions of Android OS they are running to make sure that your app is able to be experienced by as many users as possible.

Due to the fact that the Android OS update process is rather complicated, it’s to be expected that not many devices are running the latest and greatest version of Android at any given time. Luckily, detailed platform stats are available on the Android Developers Dashboard. And with the latest version of these stats, we’re pleased to see Jelly Bean and KitKat on the rise.

But more important than the raw data is where it’s headed. Since the last time we talked about Android Platform Stats in early February, KitKat has risen from 1.8% to 2.5% of Android devices—a increase rise of just under 40%. Jelly Bean has risen as well, albeit at a significantly slower pace, from 60.7% to 62.5%. Ice Cream Sandwich is down to 15.2% from 16.1% last month, and 2.x is down to just 20.2% from 21.3% last month. And since the total percentage of devices running 4.x is relatively unchanged at 79.9% from 78.6%, it’s not unreasonable to assume that most of the increase in KitKat and Jelly Bean has come at the expense of Ice Cream Sandwich, thanks to the many OTA updates we’ve seen in the last month.

While for the most part there aren’t any night-and-day changes between this and last month’s data, it’s great to see that progress is being made, especially in the very latest version of Android. Are you an app developer? If so, is Android fragmentation an issue for you? Let us know in the comments below!

[Source: Android Developers Dashboard]

source: xdadevelopers