Android is bigger than we all think.

— Sales of Google’s Android beating iPhone in 2010, Nielsen says | Technology | Los Angeles Times via. Dave Morin.

A few things:

1. It makes sense that the sheer quantity of Android handsets on different networks will overtake quantity of iPhones on one network. Network loyalty always surprises me.
2. This graph doesn’t include the iPod touch. I’m with Gruber in being quite uptight about the lack of an Android equivalent that would actually allow me to use/develop for Android without taking out a two year $80/month contract.
3. For developers, I posit that 27% “Android” doesn’t mean anything. Android is fragmented. New phones are sold today running the obsolete-on-launch Android 1.6, for which manufacturers are not providing timely updates (if ever.) 2.1 is current with the Smartphone state of the art and is only shipped on most new handsets. But if you own 3-year old iPhone 3G, you’re able to run iOS4.

I think that the graph is a misleading cause for cheer for Google, because it’s not useful to people targeting the platform. If they’re trying to judge whether they can ship all the functionality of their software, and judge the additional effort to potential market gain of supporting obsolete Androids that are going to be in circulation for two more years, this is obscuring the more important information.

I want to see a graph that breaks down smartphone OS versions. Firstly because I want to see a graph to confirm the fragmentation of Android such that maybe Google will take it seriously, but similarly I want to see verification of how many iPhone users actually do upgrade to the available OS. Even though they can upgrade and are prompted to do so through iTunes, it’s a assumption that they follow through on it. Via: Los Angeles Times.