Vlad Savov on The Verge asking “Is Ice Cream Sandwich out yet?“:
This is the vexing question that has been percolating inside my mind while reviewing the Sony Xperia S: is Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android out yet? The instinctive answer would be quick and affirmative, what with the Galaxy Nexus having been on sale for months, but go to your local phone store and try to count the number of non-Nexus ICS handsets currently on sale. It won’t take you long since the answer will almost invariably be zero.
[..]
If Google is in charge of the Android project, it should accept responsibility for all of it, because that’s how the rest of the world perceives it. And if it’s not, it should come clean by clearly defining which devices will and won’t benefit from its "express new OS" service.
I think most Android users don’t care about what version of Android their smartphone is running. Android is becoming the next “feature phone” OS – if it hasn’t already. There is a minority of users, which is probably getting smaller each day, that cares about their Android smartphone choices. They will get a device like the Galaxy Nexus and be happy with it.
The majority of the Android customers though don’t care and just get the cheapest, biggest, whateverest phone there is. What version of Android does it run? They don’t care. If you’re lucky they might ask why they should.
There’s a whole lot more to be said about the problems that will crop up with this growing gap, but that’s worth its own post.