>>If I buy a PC today, I can upgrade to a new OS when it comes out. Many people do. The platform is not abandoned by the manufacturer. In the case of many Android phones, you CAN'T upgrade to the latest version of Android, even if you want to. The manufacturer has orphaned the device. That's the whole point of the link I provided.
My point is whether this matters if people prefer to upgrade THE WHOLE DEVICE rather than messing with the OS. That's what the major phone manufacturers seem to expect. I agree this may be different from the traditional desktop.
>>And it has *nothing* to do with Windows vs. Apple. What happens on the desktop has nothing to do with what happens on the phone.
Fragmentation is fragmentation. If the market tolerates it for the desktop, why should it suddenly be an issue for the phone- unless a security hole opens up or the latest apps won't run.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
