There’s a remarkable graphic over at the theunderstatement.com that shows how infrequently updates to Androids have made it into the hands of end-users. Here’s the graphic and the money quote:

Other than the original G1 and MyTouch, virtually all of the millions of phones represented by this chart are still under contract today. If you thought that entitled you to some support, think again:

• 7 of the 18 Android phones never ran a current version of the OS.
• 12 of 18 only ran a current version of the OS for a matter of weeks or less.
• 10 of 18 were at least two major versions behind well within their two year contract period.
• 11 of 18 stopped getting any support updates less than a year after release.
• 13 of 18 stopped getting any support updates before they even stopped selling the device or very shortly thereafter.
• 15 of 18 don’t run Gingerbread, which shipped in December 2010.
• In a few weeks, when Ice Cream Sandwich comes out, every device on here will be another major version behind.
• At least 16 of 18 will almost certainly never get Ice Cream Sandwich.

Also worth noting that each bar in the chart starts from the first day of release – so it only gets worse for people who bought their phone late in its sales period.

It’s well worth reading the entire blog post, which is one of the most detailed analyses we have seen in a while. While Google has done a great job of rapidly innovating on the Android platform, they have completely neglected the job of getting these innovations into the hands of end-users.