March Android Platform Version figures released

Around the start of every calendar month, Google releases figures through the Android Developer Dashboard site detailing proportions of Android are active in use in the wild. Developers can use these figures to help focus their development efforts on specific Android OS versions or decide which API levels they should use in their apps.

April’s figures were just released, and continue the trends we’ve seen in recent months – OS verisons 4.0+ are continuing to gain ground, and now account for well over 50% of the active devices out there.

This month, Google noted that the data collection method changed slightly – it’s now based on the devices that visited the Google Play store rather than using Google’s services. This means they’re reporting cleaner figures and painting a more accurate picture of the Android ecosystem – users who simply “exist” in the Android ecosystem but don’t go to the Play store for apps are no longer included.

Notably, Jelly Bean now accounts for 25% of the active Android user base and Ice Cream Sandwich is up slightly over February. Gingerbread meanwhile just won’t die – while it’s down nearly 5% over February, there’s been suggestions that many Gingerbread devices currently in use will come out of contract in the next 3-6 months and drop those numbers down to more realistic levels for an OS of it’s age.

Finally, insignificant figures still exist for Froyo and Eclair. Believe it or not, there are even still users rocking Donut out there. Those old Android versions account for less than 6 percent of the active users.

Do you know anyone still using a version of Android older than 4.0? Let us know in the comments!