The recent Marshmallow has 15.2% market share
Lollipop (14.1% + 21.4%) = 35.5% (the greatest share)
KitKat has 29.2% (the next greatest share)
Jelly Bean† still has (6.0% + 8.3% + 2.4%) = 16.7%
Earlier than Jelly Bean is 3.4% of the total share. Jelly Bean was first unveiled in June 2012, four years ago. I think given the development model: large ecosystem of hardware companies, alternative software stacks like Kindle and Cyanogen, a good chunk of it being open-source; given all that I'll forgive Google that we all can't upgrade to Nougat on the day of its release.
As a techie you have to know by now that if you want an up to date version of Android you ought to get a Nexus or a brand which has guaranteed frequent into the future updates. There's not much point in claiming that you're "stuck" at this point.
† Data collected during a 7-day period ending on August 1, 2016.
> As a techie you have to know by now that if you want an up to date version of Android you ought to get a Nexus
Not true. I have bought: Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Nexus 5. Two of those were as expensive as iOS devices. None of them can get the N update (yes I could use Cyanogenmod but I prefer production versions of software for testing). We have our own app for Android phones and it is a pain to test (simulating touch with a mouse is not good). Other Android devices purchased for testing are no better...
Meanwhile the work iPhone 4 made it to iOS 7, the iPad 2 made it as far as iOS 9, and our other test devices are still getting updates to iOS 10.
I feel that Nexus devices stop getting updates quickly. The non-nexus Androids are way worse.
Don't buy an Android if you want a device to stay secure more than say two years (coming from somebody who loves Android!).
> As a techie you have to know by now that if you want an up to date version of Android you ought to get a Nexus...
Except I did that and it looks like my Nexus 7 is no longer getting OS updates, while my older iPhone 5 is still chugging on the latest OS and afaik will get iOS 10 soon.
This will definitely dissuade me from buying Android in the future.
As a techie you have to know by now that if you want an up to date version of Android you ought to get a Nexus or a brand which has guaranteed frequent into the future updates. There's not much point in claiming that you're "stuck" at this point.
† Data collected during a 7-day period ending on August 1, 2016.