Fragmentation in a

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

happens when a market is composed of multiple highly-incompatible technologies or technology stacks, forcing prospective

buyers Procurement is the process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual obl ...

of a single product to commit to an entire product ecosystem, rather than maintaining free choice of complementary products and services. Two common varieties of fragmentation are ''market fragmentation'' and ''version fragmentation''. Fragmentation is the opposite of, and is solved by

standardization Standardization (American English) or standardisation (British English) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organiza ...

Market fragmentation

Market fragmentation happens when multiple competing firms offer highly-incompatible technologies or technology stacks, likely leading to

vendor lock-in In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lockin, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs. The use of open standards and alternati ...

Version fragmentation

Version fragmentation happens when a firm offers multiple incompatible versions or variations of a single product, either in tandem or over time as a result of accumulated changes to product

specification A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard. There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...

Android and iOS operating systems

A term being used in the Android development community is ''Android fragmentation''.What is Android fragmentation
/ref> Fragmentation within Android is when a variety of versions of the Android platform, combined with a mixture of hardware result in the inability for some devices to properly run certain applications. Despite

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

upgrading its Android operating system to version 4.4, also known as ''KitKat'', users continued to use the earlier versions of the operating system, primarily ''

Gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger root, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly ...

'' (that's down to 0.3% share). The cause is primarily because hardware manufacturers of the devices are not able to upgrade to the later operating system for a number of reasons. As a result, applications written for one version will not operate consistently on the other, and vice versa.Google targets Android fragmentation with updated terms for SDK
/ref> In August 2010, developers of the OpenSignal wireless crowd-sourcing app detected 3,997 distinct values for "android.build.MODEL" among users of their app. This variable represents the device model, though it may be altered by adding a custom ROM. OpenSignal acknowledged that while this made it problematic to develop apps, the wide variety of models allows Android to enter more markets. Developers have placed the blame on Google and the hardware manufacturers, while Google has blamed software developers for not staying within the guidelines of its terms and conditions. The issue with fragmentation has forced

to add a prohibition to its terms and conditions for its

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific t ...

, which developers must accept before developing for the Android operating system. For example, OpenSignal and

Testdroid Testdroid is a set of mobile software development and testing products by Bitbar Technologies Limited. Company Bitbar was founded in 2009, with offices in Cambridge, United Kingdom, Wrocław, Poland, and Oulu, Finland. Marko Kaasila is a founder a ...

studies have found out that OEMs fragment Android ecosystem significantly more than Google.

References

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External links

The Guardian: Android is more fragmented than ever. Should developers or users worry?A Research summary referenced in The Guardian's article about Android fragmentation (Q1'2014)
Software industry Interoperability Market structure