Ice Cream Sandwich on 0.6 per cent of Android devices

0.6 per cent of Android devices are running Ice Cream Sandwich, while the older version 2.3 Gingerbread now owns 55 per cent of the Android pie. Is that good news for the latest version of Android, or not? Let's take a look.

The figures come from the Android developer site, which collects data by monitoring Android devices that access the Android Market within a 14-day period, and noting which version of Google's mobile OS the device is running.

Android 4.0 and 4.0.2 account for 0.3 per cent of Android devices, while those running Android 4.0.3 make up another 0.3 per cent. That gives Ice Cream Sandwich a 0.6 per cent total.

Is that absolutely pants? Well, possibly not -- Ice Cream Sandwich is brand new, and so it's natural that it would take a while for its slice of the pie to grow, especially compared with the unstoppable juggernaut that is Gingerbread.

It's also worth noting that apart from the Galaxy Nexus, there aren't any phones running Ice Cream Sandwich that people can actually buy yet.

On the other hand, considering that Ice Cream Sandwich was released in mid-November, it's a shame that manufacturers haven't got around to releasing the update for their phones yet.

Fitting an update to work with a particular mobile can take time, but that's little consolation to update-hungry smart phone owners. The recent news that the Samsung Galaxy S and Ace will not be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich is similarly dismaying.

Since Ice Cream Sandwich went live, we've seen several new phones announced that will hit the ground running Gingerbread. Is it possible that manufacturers just aren't that fussed about the latest version of Android?

What do you think? Are the statistics a positive sign or an ill omen? Tell us in the comments or on our Facebook wall.