Android in Feb 2011: Froyo surpasses 60% market share

Here's Google bringing us the latest update on the Android platform versions distribution. The numbers show that Froyo is increasing its lead at the front, while Gingerbread and Honeycomb still struggle to make an impact. There's also a notable decrease in the market shares of all Android releases prior to and including 2.1 Eclair.

And here come the exact numbers - compared to February, Froyo gained 3.7% of additional market share, adding to a total of 61.3 percent.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread actually lost 0.1% and slipped to 0.7%, but the other Gingerbread distribution (2.3.3) now runs on 1% of all droids. And while the combined total of 1.7% is more than twice the share Gingerbread held last month, it's still pretty insignificant compared to what Froyo has.

We are certain though that this will rapidly change as the availability of Gingerbread devices increases and more updates start coming in. Also we are sure devices like Samsung Galaxy S II and HTC Desire S as well as the affordable Wildfire S should boost the Android 2.3 share significantly when they hit the shelves.

It's the same story with the tablet-friendly Android 3.0 Honeycomb. It only holds 0.2% of the market now, but that isn't too bad considering that the Motorola XOOM is the only publicly available device to use it.

Finally, we have to note the continuing decline of Android versions prior to Froyo. 2.1 Eclair slipped another 2.1% to 29%, while 1.6 Donut lost 1.5% to 4.8%. The oldest Android version that still has any significant market share is 1.5 Cupcake, which is down 0.9% and now runs on 3% of all droids.

We are expecting the current trends to continue over the next month. Then the end of April/start of May will probably see the first drop in the Froyo market share since its launch as Gingerbread (2.3.3 mostly as 2.3 will be skipped by most manufacturers and will probably become extinct) and Honeycomb pick up the pace.

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