Fragmentation Is Not The End of Android | cek.log

The 5 Axes of Mobile Platform Fragmentation
  • User Interface
  • Device
  • Operating System
  • Marketplace
  • Service

For a mobile platform, a different degree of fragmentation can exist along each of these axes. For example, Apple’s iOS platform has almost no fragmentation along the Marketplace axis because Apple has been so hardcore about ensuring that the iTunes marketplace is the only marketplace supported. A relatively small amount of fragmentation on the User Interface axis exists because Apple has been extremely consistent with UI. Likewise there is a bit of device fragmentation in iOS due to different generations of iPhones having different hardware capabilities (such as a front facing camera).

The fragmentation of Android is severe, across all of these axis, regardless of how Eric Schmidt tries to spin it. And because of the complexity of the mobile ecosystem (and the other ecosystems Android is part of) the effect is more multiplicative than additive.

Via @lukew (below).  I like these axes as a frame of reference a lot.

Notes