One of the biggest issues facing the mobile devices loaded with the Android operating system is that manufacturers may release the device but not offer software upgrades to the device or only offer a limited number of releases. The devices that were purchased may never see the newer releases and the end user is dependent upon the manufacturer to release those updates. Using the Android operating system does not bind or require a manufacturer to keep the operating systems on the devices they create up to date.
A great example of this would be Motorola on a couple of devices such as the Atrix, Photon, and Electrify. Those devices were advertised as being upgradable to Android 4.0 from their 2.3 version. After some restructuring at Motorola they stated those devices would in fact not be receiving the upgrade they were originally promised [6]. In most cases the manufacturers do not release a timetable for upgrades so as not to be held accountable for releasing new software. Google doesn’t control the access to the software upgrades and cannot necessarily require a manufacturer to keep updating the phones. Google releases the code, then the manufacturers customize it, and then the mobile carrier tests it before it is actually released for customers to update their devices.