Originally Posted by Izak:
“While I've never owned an Android device, I understand its up to the manufacturer of the phone/tablet to release the OS for their device so they might not bother with older products.”
Yup. With Apple, it controls the hardware and software, so *everyone* gets the latest version directly from Apple at the same time (unless their device is too old, of course).
With Android, you have to rely on the manufacturer, e.g. Samsung has to do its own version with "TouchWiz" on top, or HTC has to do its own version with "HTC Sense" on top. With phones, it may also be the case that you have to wait for the carrier, too, like in the bad old days of Symbian on Nokias [I don't have an Android device myself, so I'm not sure on this]. Of course, you can root your device, and install a stock version of Android, but that's not something that most users would bother doing (or know how to do).
As with iOS, older devices may get left behind. I don't see a problem with this. It happens in other areas. Supporting legacy devices holds things back. It's just that phone & tablet tech moves on faster so older hardware gets dropped quicker than with PCs.
Back in May 2011, Google promised that new devices from certain partners (manufacturers and carriers) would get Android updates for 18 months after launch (subject to hardware support), so that's no better than Apple dropping support for the iPad 1 with iOS6 (worse, even, as the iPad 1 will be 2.5 years old by the time iOS 6 is out).
http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/10/g...tes-18-months/
Originally Posted by Izak:
“For instance, a lot of Android phones and tablets are not yet running Android 4.0 despite it being released late last year”
Google itself says that
only 7.1% of Android devices (phones and tablets) are actually running Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/2/305...oefully-behind