As the days and weeks continue to flow by like a lazy river, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is still stuck someplace upstream from the vast majority of users. The newest version of Google’s platform was first released back in November of 2011, and there are still only a handful of devices outside the flagship Galaxy Nexus that run it. Unlike some past updates, this one is a real departure for Android. The user interface has been totally revamped, the stock apps are better than ever, and system-level hardware acceleration is finally available.

It’s no secret that the update system for Android is a mess of monumental proportions. Not even Google’s efforts at I/O 2011 produced any concrete solutions. Many users waited the better part of a year for Gingerbread updates on their devices, and still others got no Gingerbread at all. With ICS being as important as it is, it’s time to talk about a radical step to make updates work — it’s time to pay for them.

Why things are so bad

Before Android phones, OEMs like Samsung, Motorola, and HTC were not in the business of developing software updates for existing phones. Consumers would go into the local mobile shop, and come out with a phone running software that was usually some degree of terrible. No one expected big feature updates; the phones were being sold as is.

Technically, when you buy a phone now, it is still being sold as is. Users can reasonably expect bug fixes and security updates, but major system updates? That’s not something most OEMs ever planned on delivering, and they struggle to do so now. Pre-smartphone devices almost never got updates; if anything, new batches of a device might have tweaked software, but that’s about it. It also doesn’t help that Google is still moving at warp speed with Android updates, leaving devices behind quickly.

For a device vendor to build an update for your existing device, it has to devote a lot of man hours to engineering and testing. Google provides the source code as implemented on its development device, usually a Nexus phone. It’s up to the OEM to take that code and replace the hardware access layer so it will run on a different device. Then comes the bug hunting, UI tweaks, and finally, certification. Certifying a new update is often the most time consuming part as it requires OEMs to work with carriers, and sometimes regulators.

For all this time and effort, the OEM will be lucky to earn some good will. The financial expenditure is unlikely to sell more of an outdated device, and users might not be happy anyway after lengthy delays. What if, however, there was a financial benefit for the OEMs and carriers to push out major system updates?

Why this is good for everyone

It might be hard to swallow, but the manufacturer of your phone is out to make money for its shareholders. The truth of the matter is that you’re not even the customer; the carrier is. Carriers buy thousands of phones at a time, and unless the carrier wants an update, there won’t be one because there is no one else to pay for it.

Imagine if, instead of burning money for little or no benefit, an OEM actually had a financial incentive to port ICS to its older devices. Instantly, the idea of updating phones goes from the customer service back-burner to the forefront of a company’s moneymaking strategy. If the system proves a success, carriers could get involved and have a taste of the update fees as compensation for deploying the update over the air.

This is more viable now than ever before thanks to the huge number of Android phones in the market. Samsung, for example, has sold over 30 million Galaxy S II phones since last summer. It has just started rolling Android 4.0 updates out to some countries, but most users are still waiting. If it charged just $10 for access to the update, that would be $150 million if only half of all users wanted an official update.

You’re probably saying, “I shouldn’t have to pay for updates!” Indeed you shouldn’t, but the experience will be better if you do. The obvious benefit is that the wait will be shortened because suddenly there is a payout at the end of the development process for the carrier and OEM. Getting millions of dollars out of existing devices could be some real motivation.

Device owners will also find that phones originally slated to die a slow death of attrition are suddenly on the update list. If an OEM failed to update a device capable of running a new version of Android, it would be like leaving money on the table. Smart business people are not likely to do that. So your phone will not only be updated faster, but it will be up-to-date longer. If Samsung could expect a few of your hard earned dollars, the original Galaxy S phones (which are still less than two years old!) would probably be headed for an ICS update rather than obsolescence.

Since the update itself is now a product to be sold to users, you could also expect them to be better quality. If the goal is to get users to buy the ICS update, an OEM will go out of its way to make sure things work well, and there are additional features to use as selling points.

Would it work?

For paid system updates to work, they need to be optional. If a user doesn’t want to pay $10 for newer software, they should not be berated with update notifications. Standard bug fixes should still be provided free of charge, though. The idea of paid updates is for the majority of users that don’t install custom ROMs and just want official updates. Those wishing to install ROMs should be permitted to do so.

OEMs that want to engage in paid updates should have a bootloader unlock solution for users that want to update on their own. HTC and Sony have bootloader unlock support, and Samsung allows it by default. Motorola is the odd man out with no unlocking tool. There is a danger that some OEMs might try to lock us into a paid update cycle.

There is always the possibility that paid updates would be pirated. An OEM could probably use the device ID to manage who can install an update, but we would caution against this. It’s important to remember that this is new revenue, and the rate of piracy would have to be very high to erode profits on paid updates.

It is a little galling to think about paying for something that used to be free, but there’s no guarantee you would have ever gotten it otherwise. Paying $10 for an update is simply a way to make sure OEMs pay attention to the users, and not just the carriers. You will have a direct relationship with the company that made your phone, and they will be beholden to you for that $10. A system of optional paid updates is just the best way to fix Android’s fragmentation problems.