Google released its monthly Android adoption numbers today, and there’s more good news for Jelly Bean. As you would expect, the platform is continuing to grow, reaching a quarter of Android devices for the first time since its release nine months ago.

Unlike iOS, its biggest rival, Android is available on a whole host of different devices from different manufacturers. So naturally it takes a while for the latest releases from Google to filter down through manufacturers and then carriers to your device.

Which is why Android 2.3 Gingerbread has had such a commanding share for so long. The aging platform continues to die, but more than two years after its initial release, it’s still installed on 39.8% of devices. That’s more then the 25% share now held by Jelly Bean.

Nevertheless, Jelly Bean is making progress, and this month’s figures show a huge improvement over the 16.5% share Jelly Bean held in March.

Beginning this month, Google has changed the way in which it collects Android platform data. The company now counts the number of devices that visit the Google Play Store, rather than the number of devices that simply checked-in to Google servers.

As Google states, this change more accurately reflects the number of users who are “most engaged in the Android and Google Play ecosystem.” It’s also likely to mean that those who buy an Android device just to make calls and send texts — and never actually download any apps — won’t be counted.

• SourceGoogle