Ed Bott has this right.

The Android update (or lack thereof) fiasco isn’t really about getting users to buy new devices. Carriers actually don’t want users to get new devices — that’s a cost for them. Nor is it evil or nefarious. It’s just reality. The carriers and OEMs don’t want to deploy resources to work on these updates, so they don’t. 

Worse, it’s unlikely they ever will. The interests are simply not aligned here. That’s why the Open Handset Alliance is bullshit. 

As a side note, why is this story paginated? Oh that’s right, why get 1x the pageviews when you can get 2x? Maybe a slideshow next time?