14 DAY TRIAL // Google has just announced the Android distribution numbers for December 2013 and at first glance Jelly Bean seems to be the strongest.
The data gathered in the first week of January reveals that almost 60% of the devices visiting Google Play Store were powered by Android 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 Jelly Bean platform.
The newest Android 4.4 KitKat operating system has just surpassed the oldest distribution included in the detailed statistics, namely Android 2.2 Froyo.
According to Google, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean devices are the most common on the Play store with 35.9%, while the Android 4.2 has a 15.4% market share.
The newest of the Jelly Bean distributions, Android 4.3 has only 7.8%, but it might rise next month when lots of smartphones are expected to receive it as upgrade.
Next in line is Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which has been confirmed to feature no less than 21.2% share, followed by Android 4.0.3 and 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich with only 16.9%.
Only 0.1% of tablet users seems to have been stuck on Android 3.2 Honeycomb, which is confirmed as the total number of devices visiting Google Play Store last month.
Last but not least, Android 4.4 KitKat features 1.4% overall distribution, only 0.1% more than Android 2.2 Froyo, the oldest mobile platform appearing in Google's detailed statistics.
“Because this data is gathered from the new Google Play Store app, which supports Android 2.2 and above, devices running older versions are not included. However, in August, 2013, versions older than Android 2.2 accounted for about 1% of devices that checked in to Google servers (not those that actually visited Google Play Store),” explains Google.
As mentioned earlier all the details announced by the search giant reflects devices running the latest Google Play Store app, which is compatible with Android 2.2 and higher. Those who run older version of Google Play Store haven't be taken into consideration.