In my last post, I joke about the other five people who bought bought Nexus 6 to make a broader point. Apple laps up positive PR—and rubs Android’s nose in stinky sidewalk dog poop—by touting rapid iOS 9 adoption. Based solely on devices accessing the iTunes App Store, the number is 52 percent as of September 19. By the same measure, as of September 7, from Google Play: 20 percent of Androids run the newest version, Lollipop. iOS 9 released last week, and Android 5 arrived last year. Ouch!
Google shouldn’t let the comparison stop there. The company should release Lollipop adoption data selectively, for stock Android devices like Nexus 6. That makes the comparisons to iOS more equal, being devices for which both companies control updates. Apples to, ah, Apple comparison is more appropriate and it’s smart public relations management.
Surely Lollipop adoption is as high or higher than iOS—and it is good opportunity to promote the benefits of choosing stock smartphones or tablets. Granted, channel conflict with existing Android manufacturers could be a problem. But in the larger PR war, Android is repeatedly bruised by the pageview-crazed blogosphere regurgitating Apple marketing. Android OEMs and cellular carrier partners have more to gain from anything positive about Android vs iOS.
Also, Google could include the newest Android devices of all types from all OEMs in the data dump. Wanna bet that the majority released since iPhone 6 a year ago are Lollipop? Apple cuts data to its advantage. Why shouldn’t Google?
With next week’s annual Nexus event close, and the pageview-obsessed looking to write anything about Android, the blogosphere will blast the data if Google releases it. Besides, conflict sells, and Apple vs Google, Android vs iOS, is a great cat fight.
Photo Credit: Christoph Rupprecht
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears on BetaNews.