Android 'Jelly Bean' usage share grows in October, but 'Ice Cream Sandwich' grows faster

Data collected on Android devices accessing the Google Play application store shows that the latest Android 4.1 'Jelly Bean' platform has finally broken the 2 percent barrier. But Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' has seen even better gains.

The data, collected during the 14-day period ending on November 1, 2012, shows that 'Jelly Bean' usage share has increased by 0.9 percentage points compared to the same period last month, up to 2.7 percent.

While the gains seen in 'Jelly Bean' will no doubt please Google, the 2.1 percentage points increase seen by 'Ice Cream Sandwich' will please the search giant even more, with the platform hitting an all-time high usage share of 25.8 percent, and continues to be the fastest-growing Android version.

The reason why 'Ice Cream Sandwich' is gaining market share faster than 'Jelly Bean' is simple -- 'Ice Cream Sandwich' is installed onto more new devices than the newer 'Jelly Bean'. New smartphones such as Motorola's Droid RAZR M  ship with "Ice Cream Sandwich" as opposed to the newer version.

Another factor that's contributing to the growth seen by 'Ice Cream Sandwich' is that older devices are slowly seeing this upgrade delivered to them. Updates are painfully slow in making their way to existing devices, and are almost invariably at least one version behind the latest.

The most popular version of Android continues to be Android 2.3 'Gingerbread,' a version that hasn't seen an update since September 2011.

While Google struggles to get 'Jelly Bean' onto devices, taking three-and-a-half months to break 2 percent, data published by Chitika Insights showed that it took Apple less than four weeks to get over 60 percent of iPhones and iPads upgraded to iOS 6.0.

Image source: Google Developer Dashboard.