ReadWriteMobile

From a theoretical perspective, there is really not all that much of a difference between Windows Phone and Android. 

Google is making a concerted effort to consolidate the design principles of Android and teach developers how to make more visually appealing apps. First came a site for Android tutorials, Android 101, and last week Google announced mandatory Holo Themes for any device running Ice Cream Sandwich with access to the Android Market. Google has now announced a one-stop destination for design guidelines for developers to create beautiful apps. All signs point to Google reigning in the app ecosystem of Android, setting standards and guidelines and pushing for a more tightly controlled ecosystem. This can only mean good things for the world's most popular smartphone operating system.

When you control the pipes, you control the ecosystem. At the very least, you can impose your will on a good portion of the environment. This is what the mobile industry has come down to in the United States. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint have as much or more say about the devices that eventually reach consumers hands than the platform providers or manufacturers.

Why do Android device updates take so long? Ask the carriers. Why are there half a dozen different skins for Android smartphones? Ask the carriers. Why do high-end smartphones cost what they do? Ask the carriers. Why did Nokia have to wait to enter the U.S. market with its new Lumia line? Ask the carriers. Why are there a ton of different versions of the Samsung Galaxy? Ask ... you get the picture.

There is a new word making the rounds in technology circles that has caused a stir this week: "clopen." The nature of clopen is that a platform is ostensibly open to be built upon but it must while also creating a profit for the company providing the platform. The clopen argument this week has centered around Android with the fundamental question: How open is Android, really?

Android is open source. Even by the most traditional definitions, the mobile operating system open for developers, manufacturers, carriers, custom ROM builders and hobbyists to build upon. From a consumer perspective, the nature of Android "openness" is cloudy. Is Android "clopen?" Answer for yourself in this week's ReadWriteMobile poll.

Google is making incremental improvements to the Android platform to ease the burden of fragmentation on developers and original equipment manufacturers. While still allowing manufacturers to create custom skins, Google is doing its best to standardize the rest of the of the Android development environment with version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Themes are a big part of standardizing the Android experience. Android has instituted a requirement in ICS that that the "Holo" family of themes be implemented into devices unmodified. This will mean that widgets, apps buttons and menu screens will be much easier for developers to integrate.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich has made its first appearance in Google's fragmentation numbers for the platform. Android 4.0.x is now running on less than 1% of all devices that have accessed the Android Market in the last two weeks, coming in at 0.6% overall.

Meanwhile, Gingerbread continues to climb the charts. Android 2.3.x is now running on 55.5% of all devices, up 4.9% from a month ago. Froyo still commands about a third of the Android landscape, dropping precisely what Gingerbread gained at 4.9%, down to 30.4%. The biggest question for Android heading into the new year is: who gets Ice Cream Sandwich updates and when will the carriers and OEMs push them out?

For the first time ever, Gingerbread is running on the majority of Android devices in the wild. Google released its December fragmentation numbers for the Android ecosystem and Gingerbread 2.3-2.3.7 grew from 43.9% a month ago to 50.6%. Gingerbread also took a double-digit lead over Android 2.2 for the first time, with Froyo dropping 5.4% to 35.3% of all Android devices.

The consolidation of the Android ecosystem is accelerating, as we noted when Gingerbread made big gains to overtake Froyo for the first time last month. For the first time in many months, there are only two flavors in double digits, with Éclair dropping below 10% for the first time in 2011. Where is Ice Cream Sandwich?

Google has released the latest Android fragmentation numbers for November and for the first time ever Gingerbread is the most used version of the Android platform. Gingerbread versions starting at 2.3.3 rose 5.7% from 38.2% to 43.9% of all Android devices while version 2.2 Frozen Yogurt fell 4.6% from 45.3% to 40.7%.

The decline of Froyo is accelerating, having gone from 51.2% of all Android devices to its current level in two months. In that same time frame, Gingerbread has risen 13.1%. The major Android OEMs are not shipping new devices with Froyo anymore which should further accelerate the adoption of Gingerbread especially with the holiday shopping season and the new devices that are being released that are sure to have large marketing campaigns until the end of the year.

Developers are going to notice one thing immediately when they download the Android 4.0 SDK: Ice Cream Sandwich is built from Honeycomb, not Gingerbread. The user interface is Honeycomb, and the widgets, calendar, contacts and multi-tasking are all improvements taken from Honeycomb. Google has issued several new application programming interfaces and improved the support packages and software developer kit controls. One of the purported goals of Ice Cream Sandwich was to make developing for Android easier and more accessible. Did Google accomplish that goal?

Google and Samsung were predicted to unveil Android's newest version, Ice Cream Sandwich, at CTIA Enterprise and Apps in San Diego this week. With the passing of Steve Jobs, Google decided to postpone the event. The event has been rescheduled to take place in Hong Kong next Wednesday, Oct. 19.

To be honest, the decision to postpone the ICS release may not have been entirely motivated by the passing of Jobs. The recent CTIA show in San Diego turned out to be a bit of a dud, partially because of the cancellation of the "Unpacked" event with Samsung. Attendance was down and the mood at the convention center was subdued. Nevertheless, the Ice Cream Sandwich Android icon has taken up residence in front of Google's campus in Mountain View. Check out the video below.