Samsung Electronics and other Android-based handset makers plan to roll out Google's Ice Cream Sandwich update on their mobile devices early next year. Samsung said Tuesday that the platform update, otherwise known as Android 4.0, will be ready for launch on the company's Galaxy S II smartphone and Galaxy Note device during the first quarter of 2012.
Updates for other Samsung mobile devices -- including the Galaxy R smartphone as well as the company's entire lineup of Galaxy Tab media tablets -- are expected to follow soon thereafter.
"For upgradeable models, Samsung will make separate announcements on details of OS updates scheduled for each market according to market situation and carriers' requirements," the company said in a blog.
However, Verizon's long delay in the introduction of the new Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0 demonstrates that wireless carriers need time to fully evaluate the repercussions of major software upgrades running on their networks. Among other things, Ice Cream Sandwich sports a redesigned user interface with improved multitasking functionality and offers support for Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity as well as near-field communications.
Meanwhile, Google's Android juggernaut continues to gather steam.
"There are now over 700,000 Android devices activated every day," said Andy Rubin, Google's senior vice president of mobile, this week. "And for those wondering, we count each device only once, and 'activations' means you go into a store, buy a device, [and] put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service."
Advantage Apple
Still, Apple has a knack for deflating the achievements of rivals through the launch of innovative product refreshes. Investment firm Piper Jaffray believes Apple will be able to command plenty of headlines in 2012 from the launch of a redesigned iPhone 5, iPad 3 and potentially an Apple Television.
"We expect buzz around a redesigned iPhone 5 to escalate in early calendar year 2012 until Apple launches it midway through the year," said Piper Jaffray analysts Gene Munster and Andrew Murphy. The iPhone 5, along with deeper penetration of cheaper iPhone models in more price-sensitive markets, should drive higher-than-expected iPhone growth into calendar year 2013."
Piper Jaffray forecasts Apple will ship 142.1 million iPhone units and 66 million iPad units next year. The investment firm's analysts also note that Apple is well-positioned to address competitive pressures in the tablet market by expanding its current iPad lineup.
"Our model currently assumes iPad 3 will simply replace iPad 2," Munster and Murphy noted. "However, if Apple expands the iPad lineup to both higher and lower price points, the new iPads could support growth well above our current estimates."
Google's Android Patent Worries
According to Nielsen, Android is the top smartphone platform in the U.S., with a 44.2 percent market share, followed by Apple's 28.6 percent of the smartphone market. Still, Google has to be concerned about Apple's on-going legal maneuvers and its effect on Android 4.0's prospects in the smartphone market.
For example, this week Apple won a limited victory over HTC in one smartphone patent dispute before the International Trade Commission and Motorola lost the first round of another Android related dispute when an ITC judge issued a preliminary ruling in Microsoft's favor.
However, Google's main focus is on rival Apple, which could launch lower-end devices next year that might push against Android even harder, said Al Hilwa, director of applications software development at IDC.
"These may have the net effect of forcing Google to charge device makers for Android to pay for the [intellectual property], thus driving up the relative cost of Android handsets," Hilwa said in an e-mail.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111221/bs_nf/81482
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