This segmentation for two kinds of Android users is exactly the problem. If you are an IOS user, whether a poweruser or not, you will get the latest upgrade and a range of new features by default. This delights users, they don't have to care about the issue to be satisfied with the device.
Perhaps I am lazy, perhaps I am somewhere in between those two archetypes you mention. I want to hold the device i buy before i buy it, as such i need to go to my provider store and see it, dare i say, touch it. This fact alone eliminates the option of seeing the nexus variant.
You don't have to follow the Techrags or details to want the latest and greatest.
Looking at the big red 1 on both my parents' iPhones' Settings app (not mention the much higher numbers on the App Store app) when I visited them this weekend, I imagine the same segmentation exist on iOS. Different proportions and easier upgradability on iOS, but the basic idea is the same on both platforms. If you want updates, you are able to get them. If not, and most don't, it is no loss to anyone but developers and security.
You can imagine the same segmentation, but you'd be wrong about the end result. 4/5 of iPhone users have updated to 5, while less than 1/10 of Android have updated to 4.
As a service provider, we see the device stats in our logs across tens of millions of users, and the numbers line up with Apple's slide: over 80% of iOS devices are updated to iOS 5, and under 7% of Android devices are on Android 4.
And really, it's a lot worse than that, with variations in the 2.x releases, even within the 2.3.x releases, affecting whether devices are able to stream video properly or not.
For example, you can email yourself an apk that of a program that was removed from Google Play and install it (I did this - developer decided it wasn't worth his time to support the app but was kind enough to send me the file).
To me that's an example of a power user - something that IOS does not allow.
To take it further - I imagine that one can't be a power user of an IOS no more than you can be a power user of a toaster - there is one way to insert and remove the bread, equally available to all.
If you are an IOS user, whether a poweruser or not, you will get the latest upgrade and a range of new features by default.
If you're an IOS user, you're paying the comparable price of the latest nexus phone. If you buy the nexus instead of an iPhone, you WILL get the latest upgrade and range of new features by default. Let's keep a similar comparison please.
Perhaps I am lazy, perhaps I am somewhere in between those two archetypes you mention. I want to hold the device i buy before i buy it, as such i need to go to my provider store and see it, dare i say, touch it. This fact alone eliminates the option of seeing the nexus variant.
You don't have to follow the Techrags or details to want the latest and greatest.