Google rushing out Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" to counter iPhone 5
Google is reportedly scrambling to deliver the next version of Android for both smartphones and tablets to ensure that iPhone 5 doesn't appear on the market first and without a competitive response from its licensees.
Google shipped Android 2.2 Froyo to its smartphone licensees last year just prior to iOS 4, following up with a 2.3 Gingerbread release in December that incorporated support for NFC tags, improved copy and paste, and the company's WebM video codec.
However, the main thrust for Android in 2011 has been Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which took aim at the success of Apple's iPad. Google rushed Honeycomb to market on the Motorola Xoom shortly before the release of iPad 2, resulting in bad press for the ambitious but not quite finished release.
With Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Google hopes to fold Honeycomb's "holographic 3D" tablet interface elements into its Gingerbread smartphone release, creating a unified version of Android's APIs that works the same across all devices designed for the new OS version.
Android Head of Engineering Mike Claren referred to the upcoming release as the company?s ?most ambitious release to date."
While aimed at a release date at the end of the year, BGR reported today that "it?s looking like the first Ice Cream Sandwich devices could start hitting the ground in as early as October," noting that "we have been told that Google is looking to push up the release of Ice Cream Sandwich devices as Apple?s iPhone 5 is expected in September or October, and the Mountain View-based company doesn?t want potential customers coming out of contracts (especially original DROID owners) and 'drooling over the iPhone 5.'
A wait but no rush for iPhone 5
Apple's iPhone 5, scheduled to appear in the fall (likely late September or early October) alongside the release of iOS 5, is making its appearance later than the historical summer debut of previous iPhone and iOS releases.
That delay hasn't appeared to hurt Apple's smartphone sales, despite the fact that the company's iPhone 4 was first released just over a year ago (making it virtually ancient in the fast moving mobile industry). In part, that's because Apple has increased the number of new carriers selling iPhone 4, including Verizon Wireless in the US in February, greatly broadening the number of users capable of buying the phone.
Apple also released a white model of the iPhone 4 that appears to have attracted upgrades, resulting in a new record of 20.34 million iPhones in its fiscal Q3 2011 quarterly sales.
Still, there appears to be a significant backlog of buyers holding off for Apple's next iPhone release. According to one small survey by Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray, 64 percent of Verizon users plan to buy an iPhone for their next mobile, and 74 percent of those said they are waiting for iPhone 5. Just over half of AT&T users who plan to buy a new iPhone are also waiting for iPhone 5.
Google shipped Android 2.2 Froyo to its smartphone licensees last year just prior to iOS 4, following up with a 2.3 Gingerbread release in December that incorporated support for NFC tags, improved copy and paste, and the company's WebM video codec.
However, the main thrust for Android in 2011 has been Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which took aim at the success of Apple's iPad. Google rushed Honeycomb to market on the Motorola Xoom shortly before the release of iPad 2, resulting in bad press for the ambitious but not quite finished release.
With Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Google hopes to fold Honeycomb's "holographic 3D" tablet interface elements into its Gingerbread smartphone release, creating a unified version of Android's APIs that works the same across all devices designed for the new OS version.
Android Head of Engineering Mike Claren referred to the upcoming release as the company?s ?most ambitious release to date."
While aimed at a release date at the end of the year, BGR reported today that "it?s looking like the first Ice Cream Sandwich devices could start hitting the ground in as early as October," noting that "we have been told that Google is looking to push up the release of Ice Cream Sandwich devices as Apple?s iPhone 5 is expected in September or October, and the Mountain View-based company doesn?t want potential customers coming out of contracts (especially original DROID owners) and 'drooling over the iPhone 5.'
A wait but no rush for iPhone 5
Apple's iPhone 5, scheduled to appear in the fall (likely late September or early October) alongside the release of iOS 5, is making its appearance later than the historical summer debut of previous iPhone and iOS releases.
That delay hasn't appeared to hurt Apple's smartphone sales, despite the fact that the company's iPhone 4 was first released just over a year ago (making it virtually ancient in the fast moving mobile industry). In part, that's because Apple has increased the number of new carriers selling iPhone 4, including Verizon Wireless in the US in February, greatly broadening the number of users capable of buying the phone.
Apple also released a white model of the iPhone 4 that appears to have attracted upgrades, resulting in a new record of 20.34 million iPhones in its fiscal Q3 2011 quarterly sales.
Still, there appears to be a significant backlog of buyers holding off for Apple's next iPhone release. According to one small survey by Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray, 64 percent of Verizon users plan to buy an iPhone for their next mobile, and 74 percent of those said they are waiting for iPhone 5. Just over half of AT&T users who plan to buy a new iPhone are also waiting for iPhone 5.
Comments
How did I know who wrote this story before I even read it?
Oooh wait, wait, I know this one ..... the by-line right under the title !!! yes, yes, right ??? ..... what do I win?
What's an "Android Head"? Is that like a black head?
I will be amazed if any carrier pushes this upgrade out within a year of its release to any device currently being sold.
What's an "Android Head"? Is that like a black head?
racist ban imo
seems like business as usual - apple announce and release a product in their own sweet time while the rest of the industry scrambles round like headless chickens trying to keep up...
Mmm, Ice Cream Sandwich was announces at Google I/O and it was aimed at Q4.2011
racist ban imo
racist? how so? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackhead
racist ban imo
I think he/she was cracking a pimple joke. Oh, if only there were a "everything is an outrage because I immediately jump to conclusions without even giving it a moment of thought" ban. Man, that'd be sweet.
racist ban imo
Here we go with the ID10T error again
If there indeed is any truth to ICS being rushed, it will simply be another botched attempt to get Android out before it is remotely ready for prime-time.
Samsung & HTC are getting smacked and Google is under the microscope due to licensing violations with Android. It's just getting worse for them.
Only the geeks, nerds, and tech-heads give a crap about ICS. The masses in general could care less what is running on their device.
iOS as usual will provide a good experience. It's Android that has an appearance problem since everyone I know that uses Android absolutely hates the experience. I guess they have nowhere but up to go.
It is such utter garbage. Shame on Google for not doing a better job.
Samsung & HTC are getting smacked and Google is under the microscope due to licensing violations with Android. It's just getting worse for them.
Both HTC and Samsung are reporting record profits. I wouldn't consider themselves 'getting smacked' right now.
I would say with the exception of Nokia, almost all smartphone hardware manufacturers are doing well now, thanks in partly to the original iPhone that started it all.
Both HTC and Samsung are reporting record profits. I wouldn't consider themselves 'getting smacked' right now.
I would say with the exception of Nokia, almost all smartphone hardware manufacturers are doing well now, thanks in partly to the original iPhone that started it all.
They're getting smacked in the legal sense, in that they weren't careful enough with their indiscretions that the courts are taking notice.
Both HTC and Samsung are reporting record profits. I wouldn't consider themselves 'getting smacked' right now.
I would say with the exception of Nokia, almost all smartphone hardware manufacturers are doing well now, thanks in partly to the original iPhone that started it all.
The exception of Nokia, and Moto, and Sony Ericsson and LG and ZTE. RIM aren't doing that well either. Other than Apple only HTC & Samsung are doing well right now, and Samsung is a mixed bag - they're switching users from feature phones to smartphones very fast but their ASP is staying extremely low.
Google would be far better off actually engineering a stable and innovative OS. Instead it looks like the industry will get another clunky unstable version of Android. Here is hoping HP can actually make headway with WebOS.
So true. It wasnt until 2.2 that you got something useable....and honeycomb 3.2 gives errors throughout the day. Jesus, maybe i should give webos a look.
Both HTC and Samsung are reporting record profits. I wouldn't consider themselves 'getting smacked' right now.
I would say with the exception of Nokia, almost all smartphone hardware manufacturers are doing well now, thanks in partly to the original iPhone that started it all.
Thank you Mr. 1-poster. They are all under the legal guns right now. What profits they are making (or not) is not the point.
As far as I'm concerned, their profits are made on the backs of Apple's R&D, regardless of how the fandroid-community wants to spin it.