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Comment by fivedogit | Hacker News Reader

This is not surprising and this hit-job of an article implies it has something to do with the quality of Lollipop rather than the real reason: When Google first released Android, it was a major underdog to iOS. As part of the negotiations to get the carriers to... um... carry phones with Android, Google sacrificed the ability to push out Android updates. That ability rests with the cell providers and they always take their sweet time with it.

Note: I have no particular love for Google. Just the truth.

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> That ability rests with the cell providers and they always take their sweet time with it.

Can't just blame the carriers, it's manufacturers too. I have a Xperia Z3 Compact direct from Sony, which is a practically brand new mini-flagship. US release in early November, but no sign of Lollipop.

From what I've read, maybe it gets updated in February?

Granted the carrier locked versions will be even slower, but having just switched to this from an iPhone it feels pretty absurd.

Sony's still actively working on the Z3 Compact, they've posted some demos but I think your February estimate is probably a bit optimistic unfortunately, judging by the rate of commits on Github.

An ET visiting this planet might think that cell phone carriers and Internet providers are for some obscure reason doing their utmost, with full conscious intent and purpose, to become hated by their own customers. Which would be a puzzle difficult to solve for the visiting alien.

What does iOS have to do with the popularity of one version of Android over another?

I think he is saying that android was in such a weak position compared to IOS at the outset that google could not bargain with carriers to give them any sort of control.

They sold carriers on this platform that they could customize and manipulate(i.e revenue generating crapware and custom features) and deploy on a very diverse set of hardware. But the trade-off is that any software updates are blocked by massive cooperation by the carriers and OEMs.

This is all in contrast to IOS which is often touted as having near instant uptake of upgrades, and only needs to support about a dozen devices.

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