this is interesting comparison of OS versions runing on Android and iOS and ‘developer friendly environments’ from the SDK perspective:

“The number of devices per OS is a great marketing number for Google and Apple to fight over but as a developer—who wants to get the most out of the SDK—I care about the version of the OS on the devices. If I want to use the latest and greatest SDK’s I’ll take Apple’s 80% of 21% over Google’s 30% of 28%.”

http://jeffreysambells.com/posts/2010/05/20/android-vs-iphone-development-decisions

“The iPhone has another big advantage and it solves the problem of distribution as I alluded to earlier. iPhone users use iTunes to sync their devices and add content. The process of syncing the device also checks for updates and allows all iPhone OS devices (iPhones, iPod Touches, iPads) to download the latests version of the OS. As a result the March 2010 iPhone Platform Versions stats look very developer friendly”

“More than 50% of the Android install base is still using version 1.6 or less. As a developer what should I do? If I choose to take advantage of the latest and greatest SDK I get less than half of the devices! But still, the bigger problem is there is no clear and easy upgrade path for those bottom 50% to get the newer OS version”