Google has released the Android platform distribution numbers for November, and things are starting to look up for Jelly Bean. Whereas Jelly Bean only held a 2.7% share in October, it was up to 6.7% in November. That’s not too bad when you think about the sheer number of Android handsets out there, but of course, Gingerbread is still reigning supreme as it’s running on 50.8% of handsets according to the data.
That number is actually down from 54.2% in October, so it seems that a fair amount of users adopted Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean in November. Speaking of Ice Cream Sandwich, it rose from 25.8% in October to 27.5% last month, so that version of Android is on the rise as well. We’ll probably see Gingerbread at the top for a while yet, but don’t expect to see it make any new gains – as users who were stuck with a Gingerbread handset on a two-year commitment come off of their contracts in the coming months, they’ll likely upgrade to a handset running ICS or Jelly Bean (preferably Jelly Bean).
It seems like it won’t be long before we say goodbye to Cupcake and Donut, with those showing 0.1% and 0.3% share respectively in November. Of course, those numbers remain unchanged from October to November, so they could manage to hold on for a few months to come. Eclair still has 2.7% share all to itself, while Froyo is holding out at 10.3% – not as much as October’s 12%, but still enough to beat out the likes of Jelly Bean. Finally, Homeycomb comes in at 1.4%, down ever so slightly from the 1.6% it was showing in October.
Google collected this data by looking at all of the Android devices that accessed the Google Play Store during a 14 day period, which ended on December 3 (though the period for the historical chart you see above ended on December 1). Jelly Bean’s significant jump during the month of November can be attributed to the new handsets that have launched running Jelly Bean out of the box, along with the manufacturer and carrier push we’ve been seeing to get Jelly Bean updates out the door. We’re interested in seeing what kind of jumps Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean make during this, the biggest shopping month of the year, so keep it tuned here to Android Community for more details.
[via Android Developers]
