Put your pitchforks away. Google isn’t really copying Apple, per say. What they are planning on doing is previewing the next Android release at Google I/O and then release it in the fall. This is coming from an interview with Sundar Pichai from BusinessWeek. He stated that the next version of Android will be demoed at Google I/O tomorrow, “I want the world to understand what we are doing sooner”.
Now I like this idea, and I’ll tell you why. What is our number one complaint about OEMs, aside from battery life? Updates, right? Google has gotten updates rolling out for other manufacturers a lot quicker in the past year than in years before that. We know that Apple sets deadlines for carriers to approve updates, and if Google shows off the next version of Android (Rumored to be the “L” release) at Google I/O and release it in the fall. That gives them about 4 months to get everything approved and such. Why we are all impatient for updates, if this means that all flagships would get updated at the exact time, I think this is great news. And something Google should have been doing all along.
This would also be the first time that Android was shown off this far ahead of a release. The last time this happened, the father of Android Andy Rubin, showcased Honeycomb – That’d be Android 3.0 for Tablets – at AllThingsD’s D: Dive into Mobile” nearly four years ago. Many of us remember Honeycomb as being a pretty big flop for the search engine. Although it did teach them quite a bit, which I guess is the important part here.
Well, the Google I/O keynote is bright and early tomorrow morning. The keynote starts at 10am PT that’s 1pm ET for those on the east coast. Make sure you stay tuned to Android Headlines for all the latest from Google I/O.