So, with less than 2% of devices currently running last year’s Ice Cream Sandwich, there were those heading to MWC expecting news about Jelly Bean. For sure, we’ve been hearing rumors about Jelly Bean for a while now, and at MWC people are even seeing a big bowl of jelly beans in the middle of the Google booth, but a summer 2012 release for Jelly Bean?
Just stop and think about this for a second.
A summer release schedule for Jelly Bean was never realistic idea. The last Android market share numbers released by Google showed that just over 1% of all devices are currently on ICS, which was last year’s new version of Android. Announcing a new OS version just as so many manufacturers are showcasing ICS devices at MWC would be counterproductive, and maddening for the Android OEM’s. But people still have their expectations.
Speaking to Computerworld at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google VPof Engineering for Mobile had this to say about Android 5 Jelly Bean:
“After Android 4 comes 5, and we haven’t announced the timing yet, which we’re still sorting out,” Lockheimer said. “There’s a lot of engineering work behind it still, and there’s also just the question of how to time it.”
Lockheimer added, “In general, the Android release cadence is one major release a year with some maintenance releases that are substantial still.”
That should mostly kill off any hopes that anyone had about a summer release schedule for JB.
I would imagine that we will see a sneak peak of Android 5 during the upcoming Google I/O, and there may be a more firm release date at that time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the release date announcement comes even later in the year.
Source: Computerworld | Image: The Verge