Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS Experiencing Slow Launch

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Friday, February 03, 2012

The latest Android operating software, known as Ice Cream Sandwich, launched back in November overseas and in December in the U.S.

Despite being around for two months, the software only accounts for one percent of all Android devices, according to a recent report from Google.

The company recently updated its stats, something it does biweekly, and its latest data shows that one percent of Android users devices have been upgraded to 4.0. Either that, or they own a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, since that device is currently the only one that comes with ICS pre-installed.

The highest used Android software is still 2.3, Gingerbread, that accounts for almost 60 percent of Android devices. A close second to it would be 2.2, Froyo, that accounts for almost 30 percent of the Android market.

Most of the older Android platforms such as 1.5, Cupcake, 1.6 ,Donut and 2.1 Éclair only make up for about 10 percent of devices running Google's OS and finally Honeycomb 3.2, strictly for tablets, only holds around four percent.

The slow growth of the Ice Cream Sandwich software can be mostly attributed to the update not being released for some of the most popular Android smartphones and tablets on the market.

Devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S2, Motorola Droid Razr and HTC Evo are expected to receive the Ice Cream Sandwich update in the coming weeks. The most popular out of these seems to be the Galaxy S2, a device that Samsung promised would upgrade in the beginning of 2012.

Another factor in the slow growth of Ice Cream Sandwich is the fact that in some places such as the U.S., the Galaxy Nexus smartphone is only available on one carrier. Once other service providers gain access to sell the handset, the number of users with its operating system should expand.