Gingerbread on the march; jumps to 39% share of Android devices

It took a long time to get going, but almost a year since it first rolled out onto Android handsets, take up of the Gingerbread version of the OS (Android 2.3) is finally picking up.

According to the most recent stats released by Google, it's now running on 38.7 percent of all Android handsets – up from a paltry 4 percent back in May.

Despite this rise, version 2.2 – better known as Froyo – still remains in control, holding a 45.3 percent share.

At this current rate of growth, however, it'll only be a matter of months before Gingerbread becomes the dominant version available across the globe.

Comparatively, Honeycomb's rise continues to be slow.

Only available on tablets, 1.8 percent of Android devices currently run a version of Honeycomb, based on Google's 14 day survey period. That's up from 1.3 percent in August.

Few Honeycomb tablets have made a massive impression at retail to-date based on the sketchy information available – Xoom shipments have flagged, according to Motorola's most recent quarterly results, while Galaxy Tab 10.1's roll out has been hampered thanks to legal challenges by Apple.

[source: Google]