Basically if you leave a fault alone, it'll develop into a bigger fault, and eventually engulf you.
Or with regard to this thread, if Google is left alone, it'll eventually get worse with updates, and the next time that comes around, the only way to update a phone officially, regardless if it's a Nexus or not, may be to buy a new phone.
I would be worried about Apple doing this long before Google.
I would be worried about Apple doing this long before Google.
Why? This is a problem with Google first of anything. Plus there is no sign that Apple would try to do the same thing. If anything, I can buy an iPhone on contract today and know that it'll receive updates all throughout the contract period, and beyond that a little as well.
Because Apple has already done it before:
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Apple sets $10 price for iPod touch 3.0 software
Thankfully they didn't charge iPhone users, and it seemed to be a one time thing. But still, that's one time more than Google (and I had that iPod Touch. Was very annoyed with Apple over that fiasco).
And the Nexus one did receive updates, all throughout a normal cell phone contract period.
If this was as big of an issue as some people make it out to be, Android would not be the most popular mobile OS.
Also Android became the most popular OS because there are a ton of cheap Android devices. I don't think that's relevant to the discussion, though, aside from the fact that those cheap Android devices also have their support dropped much faster than you can count from 1 to 2.
Android does have cheaper phones that most definitely helps bolster its marketshare (which is one of the advantages of the OS, there is a variety of handsets for just about every person), but that doesn't explain Samsung surpassing Apple in smartphone marketshare by an almost double digit lead. I don't recall any cheap Samsung smartphones running Android?
My bad, yes it was in Q3 (lol, I'm the one who linked the article, shouldn't have made that typo...).
Back to the main point. The N1 received every Android update for a good 2 years, and now it's soon to become not last gen, but two generations behind. It is not going to stop working the day ICS launches.
Also, iOS updates are not perfectly equatable to Android updates, because as far as I know, Apple doesn't introduce new features independently from iOS updates like Google has done. So that iOS update is more important to the Apple user because that's the only time they get new features (again, AFAIK).
Anyway (I'm started to get this thread and the other one with that misleading graph mixed up), I will leave this thread for good with the opinion that it's not at all surprising for the N1 not to get ICS (officially). It's not the last gen phone, that would be the Nexus S.
Well, if the N1 is two generations behind, then I guess the iPhone 3GS is already that old as well. But that phone still gets updates.
Regarding feature updates, I don't see how Android is any different from iOS.
Core system applications and core system functionality remain the same regardless of what you download from the Marketplace. For instance, the stock browser doesn't get updated through the Marketplace.
In fact, most Marketplace updates in Android are only for the apps. Maps and Voice are apps. The entirety of the OS remains the same. In that regard, it's not any different from iOS.