Gingerbread on 6 out of 10 Android devices - Ice Cream Sandwich reaches 1%

New Android distribution numbers are out. Gingerbread accounts for 59% of all devices, while ICS reached its first milestone: one per cent. Meanwhile, Google has also revealed Bouncer, their Android security service targeting malware apps.

Wondering what Android version your potential customers are running? Google itself is looking at the devices active in the Android Market and regularly publishes statistics. Recent numbers indicate a mentionable growth in the share of Gingerbread devices: 59% of all Android devices run Android 2.3., which is a growth of 14% over the last three months.

Loosing share was Gingerbread's predecessor, Froyo (Android 2.2), which lost 13%, accounting for just a bit more than a blocking minority right now: 27.8%

New kid on the block, Ice Cream Sandwich, the phone-and-tablet-allrounder, reached its first milestone: 1 out of 100 Android devices run Android 4.0


Android versions. Data collected during a 14-day period ending February 1st (Chart by Google)

Platform	API Level	Codename	Distribution February 2012	Distribution November 2011
Android 1.5	3	Cupcake	0.6%	0.9%
Android 1.6	4	Donut	1.0%	1.4%
Android 2.1	7	Eclair	7.6%	10.7%
Android 2.2	8	Froyo	27.8%	40.7%
Android 2.3 - Android 2.3.2	9	Gingerbread	0.5%	0.5%
Android 2.3.3 - Android 2.3.4	10		58.1%	43.9%
Android 3.0	11	Honeycomb	0.1%	0.1%
Android 3.1	12		1.4%	0.9%
Android 3.2	13		1.9%	0.9%
Android 4.0 - Android 4.0.2	14	Ice Cream Sandwich	0.3%	-
Android 4.0.3	15		0.7%	-

Relevant numbers for developers

"Bouncer" against Android malware

Meanwhile, Google introduced a service codenamed Bouncer, which automatically scans the Android Market for potential malware "without disrupting the user experience of Android Market or requiring developers to go through an application approval process."

Google states the service has been in use for a while. The company saw a 40% decrease in the number of potentially-malicious downloads from Android Market between the first and the second half of 2011. Google uses these numbers to make a stand against statistics by anti-malware-companies stating a growth in potential Android malware during the same period.

This is, in the words of Hiroshi Lockheimer (VP of Engineering at Android), how Bouncer works: "Once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We actually run every application on Google's cloud infrastructure and simulate how it will run on an Android device to look for hidden, malicious behavior. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back."

See also:
Ovum: Android will replace iOS as the most important platform to developers
Gingerbread reigns the Android Kingdom now
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Gingerbread on every third Android device now