That's a very narrow perspective, based solely on what is "painful" for the developer. Developer pain isn't, generally, a good indicator of the public good.
Obviously the real driver for "fragmentation" is that there exists a market which is (1) lucrative and (2) easy to enter. So everyone rushes in with their devices and competes. And somehow you think this is a bad thing?
Stated simply: "fragmentation" is a side effect of "market efficiency". The reason almost everyone (for the appropriate definitions of "everyone", of course) in the developed world has a smartphone (be it an iOS one or not) is precisely because of this efficiency. And you can't have it without a little fragmentation to go along with it.
Basically, your utopia where everyone uses one device not only doesn't exist, it can't exist.
I agree with the efficiency part with regards to android lowering the Barrier to Entry, but the 2 year contract to make the devices "affordable", surely doesn't work in favor of market efficiency.
Certainly there are factors that work against efficiency. Any kind of lock-in, be it an enforced contract term or a putative monopoly position for Apple is going to harm things. But on balance, Android being cheap and easy (and thus fragmented) has made smartphones cheaper/better. I don't think there's a serious counterargument to be made on that point.
My N4 out of contract from google wasn't that much more than say an S3 on contract... My last three phones have been off contract with cheap all you can use reseller services... the lower month to month makes up for the price difference in 4-6 months
Obviously the real driver for "fragmentation" is that there exists a market which is (1) lucrative and (2) easy to enter. So everyone rushes in with their devices and competes. And somehow you think this is a bad thing?
Stated simply: "fragmentation" is a side effect of "market efficiency". The reason almost everyone (for the appropriate definitions of "everyone", of course) in the developed world has a smartphone (be it an iOS one or not) is precisely because of this efficiency. And you can't have it without a little fragmentation to go along with it.
Basically, your utopia where everyone uses one device not only doesn't exist, it can't exist.